A national coalition has been launched for Canada’s community-owned energy co-ops to overcome financing, regulatory and capacity challenges.
The newly founded Community Energy Cooperative Canada (CECC) aims to connect early stage renewable energy co-ops (RECs) with experienced developers in order to strengthen collaboration and growth across provinces.
Jodi Conuel, CECC manager and project lead, told a recent webinar: “We are aiming to become the national voice of renewable energy co-operatives in Canada.”
She added: “We have developed as a network to support community-owned renewable energy all across the country, and we really exist to strengthen the co-operative model within Canada’s clean energy transition.
Renewable energy co-ops have been present in Canada for more than two decades, and are responsible for a ‘fairly marginal’ portion of the country’s overall power generation – 73 megawatts, i.e. 0.05% of Canada’s total installed capacity. They are community-owned groups in which members can jointly own, invest, and govern renewable energy projects in their local area. While RECs are present all over Canada, a majority of them are located in Ontario.
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Since the first REC – the Peace Energy Cooperative – was founded, RECs have continued to grow across Canada, but also face challenges. In 2021, a total of 52 RECs were active in Canada, although this marks a drop of around 44% since 2016.
Some of these challenges are political: for example, one REC, the Wintergreen Renewable Energy Co-op (WGC), closed in 2020 after eight years of operation when Premier Doug Ford shuttered more than 750 renewable energy projects.
Other challenges are financial and cultural. The Energy Mix reports that many RECs are volunteer-run, often with no paid staff even after years of operation. A combination of upfront costs, financial and regulatory changes, and political uncertainty therefore creates a cocktail of challenges for RECs.
“The burnout is real,” said Conuel. “A lot of people have full-time jobs and kids and, you know, life happens. It’s a lot to ask people to spend their free time chasing down leads for potential sites, or talking to financial and regulatory institutions that don’t understand what RECs need.”
These are issues that the CECC aims to address by creating a ‘template’ or ‘package’ for creating and running renewable energy co-ops. It wants to connect early-stage RECs with more established RECs and formalise these connections through provincial hubs – starting with hubs in Ontario and Alberta, but with plans to expand elsewhere.
