The province’s electricity future is bright — if we work together

The near-failure of Alberta’s electricity grid in January was a terrifying reminder of just how much we depend on generators and grid operators for our safety and survival. In hindsight, January’s emergency alert is also a turning point, one that sparked a process of renewal and innovation in our electricity market that’s been long overdue. Taken together with provincial government-ordered reviews of the electricity system, the table is set for change that can result in a more prosperous future for Alberta — and Albertans.

Reducing emissions and increasing the affordable supply of net-zero electricity are table stakes in decarbonizing the global economy. Whether it’s used in our vehicles and our homes or the growing array of industries that power our economy, net-zero electricity will be the lifeblood of the 21st century.

Recognizing this, the Energy Futures Lab created Alberta’s Electricity Future, a threeyear effort to bring people and perspectives together to identify challenges and advance solutions. The initiative includes rural voices, Indigenous leaders, young people and industry veterans, and it has achieved an unusual degree of consensus around the shifts needed to align our system to the future we aspire to.

The initiative kicked off by interviewing leaders from across the electricity system, with each one emphasizing how important a modern, net-zero grid is to the province’s future. Barely 12 months later, their participation has led to the co-creation of a hopeful, unified vision.

That vision honours and elevates core Alberta values including choice, flexibility and freedom. It features an empowered customer, a more reliable and resilient grid, and — through greater competition and more efficiency — lower total energy costs (including heating, cooling, transportation and electricity usage) for everyone. It includes foundational principles for guiding changes to policies, regulations and

We don’t have to choose between clean electricity and reliable power.

market solutions that will enhance Alberta’s future competitiveness in global markets, minimize costs of decarbonization for customers and promote a more equitable system. If done correctly, the system will serve as an economic force multiplier, as our growing supplies of net-zero electricity attract new industries to Alberta and help existing ones adapt.

To get there, today’s problems can’t be addressed in isolation. To modernize our electricity grid, we need to look at the challenge comprehensively and work toward solutions that address the needs of all customers, rather than prioritizing the needs of the few. In bringing together diverse and committed leaders from across the province’s system, Alberta’s Electricity Future is demonstrating how the tensions across diverse perspectives can be fertile ground for identifying creative solutions.

The path forward demands we resist settling for false trade-offs such as pitting the economy against the environment. We don’t have to choose between clean electricity and reliable power, or between lower emissions and higher economic growth. Albertans can, and should, have all of that. To do this, we need bold thinking and urgent, co-ordinated action.

We don’t have time to wait. A net-zero grid is the first domino in a sequence of transformations needed to decarbonize other sectors. The longer we take to agree this approach is the only one that can deliver the enduring solutions we need, the more Alberta’s economic competitiveness will slip. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build an electricity system that works for everyone, whether in a head office in downtown Calgary or a small town in rural Alberta.

Now is the time to act. And we are building the movement to seize the moment. Please join us.

Alison Cretney is managing director of the Energy Futures Lab, a non-profit organization that brings together stakeholders from across the energy system to collaboratively develop solutions for a net-zero energy future.

Terri-lynn Duque is the electricity transformation strategist for Alberta’s Electricity Future and the founder and principal at Ignite Energy Solutions. Maureen Kolla is the project lead for Alberta’s Electricity Future, an initiative of the Energy Futures Lab.