Spotlight on the Energy Transformation

Published on May 14, 2018

Michael Cleland / Board Chair - Canadian Energy Research Institute

Tony Van Bommel / Senior Managing Partner, Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology Venture Fund - BDC Capital

Chad Park / Director - Energy Futures Lab

Juli Rohl / Founder - ReGenerate Alberta

The global energy industry is going through a massive shake-up – and Canada’s is no exception. The transition to a low-carbon, distributed and customer-centric future energy system is driven by the need to reduce our carbon footprint, and by the decreasing costs and technological competitiveness of new energy sources.
This Spotlight explores what governments, investors, large energy incumbents, smaller independent producers and energy/clean tech innovators must do to enable and empower Canada’s ongoing transition to the energy sources and business models that will power our future economy.

Key Takeaways & Calls to Action

Federal and provincial governments must increasingly engage and learn from local communities before forming energy policies or implementing energy projects, to ensure that they are the direct beneficiaries of any proposed projects and that they become sources of business opportunity – we need to build a new energy social contract in Canada.
For Canada’s cleantech and energy tech sectors to compete, we need to attract significant capital and technical talent to the space and to devise new business models that, for example, reduce the capital-intensive nature of such projects.
The oil and gas industry can provide the economic capacity and the technological testing ground for the transition to renewable energy.
Small companies will play a key role in enabling the energy transition at a local level since they are more open to innovation and engaging in smaller projects that, combined, have a cumulative effect.

Watch and Read the Experts’ Full Interviews:

The Researcher Michael Cleland Board Chair - Canadian Energy Research Institute "Changing our energy use is a necessary compliment to thinking about changing the sources of energy, not a substitute."

The Investor Tony Van Bommel Senior Managing Partner, Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology Venture Fund - BDC Capital "Canada needs to devise business models that apply our innovation without being capital-intensive."

The Futurist Chad Park Director - Energy Futures Lab "The energy transition presents opportunities to enhance the long-term resilience of communities, but it will take new approaches, economic development, community planning and mobility."

The Regenerator Juli Rohl Founder - ReGenerate Alberta "If we can redeploy portions of the billions of dollars going into the oil and gas industry in an intelligent way, we can accelerate the energy transition."