July 14, 2021, Ottawa, ON – To reach our net-zero climate targets, North Americans need to more than double the capacity of the electricity grid. This means that Canadian provinces must work together – and with American states – to grow, better integrate, and optimize the electricity grid, ensuring enough affordable, secure and decarbonized electricity supply to power our net-zero future.

Launched today by The Transition Accelerator to help address these issues, Canada Grid will advocate for better transmission and interregional planning policy between Canadian provinces and with American states, and provide policymakers and regulators with the tools they need to drive innovation, interjurisdictional trade, infrastructure development, job creation and a just and secure energy transition for Canadians.

 Canada Grid is forming a coalition of industry, labour, and civil society groups working at the intersection of climate and energy policy. Guided by the expertise of technical and economic thought leaders, Canada Grid will spearhead and advocate for interjurisdictional and cross-border collaboration on transmission development and the integration of renewable energy and other clean energy assets.

Currently, Canada’s electricity systems are largely isolated from one another. A focus on increased grid integration will enable the development of a more robust east-west grid across Canada, creating technical efficiencies, environmental benefits and long-term price stability for ratepayers. Better integration is also vital to ensuring that Canada’s electricity system is more resilient to increasingly severe storms and natural disasters fueled by climate change.

“Our research shows that electrification of the economy is the number one solution to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Dan Wicklum, CEO, The Transition Accelerator. “Canada Grid will go a long way to building resilience, capacity and greater integration in our electricity grids, and is an important component of The Transition Accelerator’s work to accelerate Canada down viable pathways to a net-zero future.”

“Grid integration is the project of the twenty-first century. Better integration and optimization of our electricity grids is paramount, but Canada and the U.S. do not currently have the toolset to achieve the development of cross-border clean electricity transmission that was called for by Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden in their first bilateral meeting,” said Philip Duguay, Managing Director, Canada Grid. “As the U.S. makes significant progress on integrating its own electricity grid, modernizing regulations and building out its offshore wind sector, Canadian provinces must collaborate on a unified approach to electrification and coordinate better with the U.S. to avoid leaving Canadian ratepayers behind during the energy transition.”

For more information on Canada Grid, please visit canadagrid.org. Visit transitionaccelerator.ca for more information on The Transition Accelerator and its current priorities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Jess Harris  
Director of Communications 
The Transition Accelerator 
437-227-6123 

jharris@transitionaccelerator.ca