CTC #65 - Grid lessons from a polar vortex

Hey there,

Welcome to another issue of Climate Tech Canada! You may have noticed a surprise in your bank account - the first carbon pricing rebate of the year dropped on Monday.

In case you missed it, check out my look back at climate tech in 2023 and the trends that will shape the year ahead:

This week in climate tech:

• dcbel deploys home energy hubs in California

• Western grids struggle to keep up with deep freeze

• Climate meetups in Ottawa, Toronto & Montreal

Let’s go!

💰 Funding: dcbel helps California respond to grid demands

🏡 dcbel, a Montreal-based home energy orchestration startup, will receive $52M from the California Energy Commission’s Responsive, Easy Charging Products With Dynamic Signals (REDWDS) grant program.

The funding will help dcbel deploy their Home Energy Station throughout the state in partnership with UC Davis, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and others. dcbel offers a suite of tools for home energy management, including the Home Energy Station, a bi-directional home EV charger that doubles as an inverter for home solar and battery storage, and Orchestrate and Chorus software that manage the use, storage and sale of home energy. Together, dcbel’s technology can help homeowners manage energy use, generate revenue from selling energy, and contribute to a more reliable grid.

dcbel previously raised a US $50M Series B in August of 2023 to drive commercialization efforts.

Other funding

🔌 Polara received a $600K interest-free loan from the federal government for its fleet electrification services. Polara has developed a modular charging solution for fleets in addition to implementation services.

📈 Milestones & growth

🏅 13 Canadian climate tech companies made the 2024 Global Cleantech 100, putting Canada in the #2 spot behind only the U.S. Batteries dominated, with e-zinc, Mangrove Lithium, Cyclic Materials, ph7 technologies and others on the list.

🏍️ Damon Motors will partner with battery maker E-One to use their batteries in Damon’s electric motorcycles. E-One recently announced a new battery plant in B.C.

🚗 Connected vehicle company Geotab formed a Sustainability Alliance with 28 partners including 7Gen and Lion Electric to help speed up fleet decarbonization.

♻️ Northstar Technologies will use its shingle recycling technology to upcycle waste shingles in a partnership with manufacturer IKO Industries.

🥶 In the news: Cold snap tests Western grids

What happened: A polar vortex hit Alberta and B.C. over the weekend and into Monday, with temps hitting the -40s. In Alberta, solar and wind generation dropped, as did several natural gas plants. The result: a huge drop in generation and an emergency broadcast asking Albertans to reduce electricity consumption to help avoid rolling blackouts.

Why it matters: The reliability of wind and solar are a long-standing sticking point with opponents of renewable energy, and is being used as a wedge by Alberta and Saskatchewan to push back on federal clean energy rules. Premier Smith was quick to point out the lack of wind generation and ran ads across the country last year saying the federal Clean Electricity Regulations would leave Canadians “freezing in the dark”.

A changing grid: The make-up of the grid is changing as renewables like wind and solar are deployed, with a growing part of the generation pie that is variable (i.e. we can’t control when the wind blows). The growth of renewables is so great that globally, wind and solar are expected to produce more than hydropower this year, and renewables as a whole will pass coal to be the top source of power generation by 2025. Electricity systems now need to account for this with a more diversified grid.

How do we respond: Alberta is already taking steps to solidify power generation by going nuclear. Capital Power and Ontario Power Generation are teaming up to explore deploying a fleet of small modular reactors in the province.

Virtual power plants, like those enabled by dcbel, could unlock on-demand energy. In these systems, the grid can tap in to EV batteries, home energy storage, residential solar, etc as a “virtual power plant”. Puerto Rico is exploring these systems as backup power for its grid, and Texas and California, both of which have struggled with energy reliability in recent years, are doing the same.

Energy storage is another key aspect, particularly solutions that are capable of long duration and seasonal storage. Alberta has about 210 MW of storage right now, just behind Ontario.

It’s not as sexy, but other key tool is a more connected grid. Canada’s grid has few ties between provinces - Alberta and Saskatchewan can only import ~12% of their peak demand according to energy economist Andrew Leach. We need to 3x interconnections to achieve a net-zero system, tapping into provinces with abundance hydropower and sharing the load. Together these tools will be a much more dynamic and reliable grid.

🗞️ In other news:

• Last year’s severe weather cost Canada $3 billion in insured damages.

• Uranium prices hit a record high due to supply challenges in Kazakhstan, the world’s top producer of the nuclear fuel. Demand from more nuclear generation is also expected to increase. Canada is the second largest uranium producer.

• Changes to the Trans Mountain pipeline will go ahead after initially being denied due to concerns about the pipeline’s integrity. The pipeline will more than double the capacity of oil exports to the west coast.

• Researchers at the University of Guelph developed a method for reducing methane emissions from dairy cattle using genetic selection.

📣 What’s going on

📅 Montreal Climate Careers & Community: Join the Montreal climate community at this bi-monthly meetup to connect with others who are passionate about climate solutions or explore new career paths. Jan 17th, Montreal.

📅 Climate North: Common Ground Film Screening: Join Toronto’s climate community for a screening of Common Ground, exploring the world of regenerative agriculture and soil health. Jan 17th, Toronto.

📅 Ottawa Climate Exchange: Sustainability Tech: Join us at this fireside discussion featuring Derik Lawlis of Invert. We’re diving into the world of corporate CO2 and digital tools to reduce emissions. Jan 18th, Ottawa.

💡 Early Stage Commercialization Fund - Low Carbon Technology: This program is focused on supporting the commercialization of innovations from research institutions in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Applications close Feb 12th.

🏅 BC Cleantech Awards: Nominate a B.C. climate champion who’s making waves in climate tech. Nominations are open in research, business, innovation, community building and more. Applications close Feb 20th.

📌 Jobs

Check out the job board for newly posted roles from Canadian climate tech companies like Manifest Climate, Spare Labs, Adaptis, Partage Club and many more!

➡️ Hiring? List your posting here.

Thanks for reading! If you’re enjoying the newsletter, I’d love if you could share it with a friend to help support my work.

Justin