Pathways to Energy Democracy in Canada

Dr. Julie MacArthur was co-applicant on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant project led by Dr. John Parkins (University of Alberta) to explore energy democracy in Canada.

Canada is experiencing rapid energy transition, with profound implications for how we live, move and work. Our country is poised to expand renewable energy capacity from 19 gigawatts in 2021 to almost 45 GW in 2025, driven mainly from wind and solar energy projects in western Canada (Rystad Energy 2022). This transition includes the decarbonization of electricity, electrification of transportation, energy efficient housing and urban design as well as changes in consumer behaviour (Canadian Energy Regulator, 2022).

Although these sweeping changes in the energy system hold tremendous potential for societal transformation, they also risk underpinning the status quo, retrenching systems of inequality, and exacerbating issues of access and affordability across many parts of the country. According to one study (Riva et al. 2021), 6 to 19 percent of Canadian households experience energy poverty, and issues of equity and access are likely to increase with rising energy costs -- a concern that motivates our collective interests in energy democracy and energy justice.

As the energy system undergoes rapid transformation and transnational firms make larger investments (e.g., the largest solar farm in Alberta is the 465-megawatt Travers Solar Project backed by Warren Buffett), several recent surveys clearly illustrate the extent of socio-technical innovation that is underway through small-scale and community renewable energy projects. For example, a 2021 census identified 52 renewable energy co-operatives across Canada (Leonhardt et al. 2022). Within Indigenous communities, one organization identified 197 clean energy projects over 1 megawatt, with community involvement that ranges from impact benefit agreements to various forms of direct ownership (ICE 2022). Similarly, Hoicka et al. (2021) identified 194 Indigenous renewable energy projects Canada-wide. Our team at the University of Alberta also documented Canadian community-based renewable energy projects on an interactive map, with projects that range from tidal to geothermal, private or public ownership, and Indigenous or non-Indigenous communities (Future Energy Systems 2022). These surveys illustrate the extent of energy transition that is taking place within communities and regions across the country and the level of social and political investment that has gone in to imagining, designing, and building these small-scale projects. These small-scale efforts represent multiple pathways to energy democracy in Canada.

While these projects are designed to realize more equitable and accessible forms of energy production and distribution that can support local communities and local livelihoods, there is very limited research in Canada on the possibilities and limits of expanding community-based renewable energy (CRE) projects, and we know even less about how well existing projects are meeting their economic, social and environmental objectives. In this regard, we echo Berka and Creamer (2018, p. 3400) who find a lack of robust and statistically-based evidence and "few systematic efforts to assess social and environmental impacts or to understand the context in which given impacts arise."

With these concerns in mind, the proliferation of CRE projects in Canada are at the heart of this proposal. In particular, we explore the possibilities for advancing these types of projects as manifestations of energy democracy and energy justice to meeting the needs of diverse and evolving rural, urban and Indigenous communities. Our collective work draws on numerous disciplinary backgrounds, international networks, robust methods and inter-provincial comparative datasets to build knowledge, extend learning, and enhance energy transition.