Innovation Spring 2025

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“What’s so powerful about these models is that they have some clear outputs about the reliability and the affordability and the possibility of building up an electricity system that is indeed clean,” said Stephen Thomas, a project manager at the David Suzuki Foundation who engaged extensively with SESIT’s models. “Using these models was a great opportunity to contextualize our consultations, advocacy, and campaigning.” In 2022, the David Suzuki Foundation used COPPER and SILVER extensively for a major report – which it called the first of its kind in Canada – modelling ways to reach 100 percent zero-emissions electricity by 2035 “using wind power, solar power, energy storage and interprovincial transmission, while also accounting for the aggressive electrification of other sectors.” Its interpretation of the models showed that even under the most conservative estimates, an investment of $430 billion would be required by 2050 to fund necessary investments in energy generation, energy transmission, maintenance, and energy storage to meet the net-zero goal. Some of the significant actions across these fields include electrifying transportation and housing infrastructure – from cars to HVAC systems – in addition to investments in batteries and new energy-generation sources like wind farms and dams. “The kind of modelling that we were able to do with Madeline and her team hadn’t been publicly released in Canada at all,” said Thomas. “Being able to ask questions about how an electricity system that is 100 percent emissions-free can run, what it costs to embark on a project like that, the kind of pitfalls or barriers that come up in the modeling, and the kind of gaps of knowledge that we still have, even with the modelling we’re able to do – all those were crucial for advancing our work.” Policy solutions for a net-zero future Modelling is a critical tool for allocating resources and understanding the consequences of different investment decisions. Pascal LeSage, Head of Modelling and Analysis for Regulatory Support at Environment and Climate Change Canada, was responsible for the government’s internally developed energy models used to develop the Clean Electricity Strategy. For his group, various models informed decision-makers on the consequences of different potential actions, and served as a tool for communicating with partner groups. “We would test out hundreds of different configurations of the clean electricity regulations – first of all, to test out different ideas, but also especially to make sure that we were addressing concerns from people that were going to be impacted by the regulations,” said LeSage.

” I think what we need in Canada is open-access, transparent models that we can run on an ongoing basis to understand what policy regulations we need. Dr. Madeleine McPherson, P.Eng., principal investigator, Sustainable Energy Systems Integration & Transitions (SESIT) Group.

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