Spotlight on the Energy Transformation

Michael Cleland

Board Chair

Canadian Energy Research Institute

Tony Van Bommel

Senior Managing Partner, Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology Venture Fund

Part of The Future of Energy Series

Published on May 14, 2018

Watch and Read the Experts’ Full Interviews:

Energy Transformation: Focus on energy use as much as energy sources Michael Cleland Board Chair Canadian Energy Research Institute
Technological and Business Model Innovation to Disrupt Canada’s Energy Sector Tony Van Bommel Senior Managing Partner, Industrial, Clean and Energy Technology Venture Fund BDC Capital
Transitioning to an Energy System that Exists Within a Two-degree World Chad Park Director Energy Futures Lab
Regenerating Alberta’s Energy Resources: Talent, oil wells and land 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.