This week, on our Calgary Stampede podcast edition, our guest is Avik Dey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Power. Capital Power is a publicly traded North American power producer headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. Capital Power owns renewable and thermal power generation facilities, totaling over 9 GW of power generation capacity across 32 facilities. Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Avik: Is it possible to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable electricity? Does Capital Power currently generate any electricity from coal? Do you expect small modular rea ..read more

On June 20, 2024, Bill C-59 received Royal Assent and officially became law, implementing its provisions into Canadian legislation. The Bill, along with Bill C-69, which was passed on the same day, introduced new subsidies to encourage investment in clean energy in Canada. Bill C-59 established the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Tax Credit. Bill C-69 created the Federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee, the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, and the Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit.  However, the positive impact of thes ..read more

This week on the podcast, our guest is Stephen Poloz, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Author, Special Advisor at Osler, and recently appointed by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to lead a working group to explore how to catalyze greater domestic investments by Canada’s pension funds.   This is Stephen's second appearance on the podcast. The first was in 2022 after he released his book The Next Age of Uncertainty. Here are some of the questions Jackie and Peter asked Stephen: What precipitated the thesis that Canadian pensioners are better off with more investment in Canada? Wh ..read more

This week, our guest is David Hobbs, Executive Chairman of Pantheon Resources PLC and Chairman of Proton Green LLC. David has an extensive background in energy research, having served as Head of Research at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research (KAPSARC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and as Chief Energy Strategist at IHS CERA (now part of S&P Global Commodities Insights).   The podcast is a new game-style format this week, where Jackie and David engaged in a lively debate on some of the big issues in energy, with Peter as the moderator. Some topics they discussed include: How would ..read more

According to the IEA, heat accounts for almost half of final global energy consumption, with approximately two-thirds currently sourced from hydrocarbons. Net zero energy scenarios anticipate that heating can be predominantly electrified.   In pursuit of lower-carbon buildings, high-efficiency air-source heat pumps offer a promising decarbonization and energy reduction solution. Further, the Canadian federal government and some provinces support the transition to air-source heat pumps by subsidizing their purchases. In this episode, Jackie and Peter review the ARC Energy Research Institu ..read more

This week, our guest is Jennifer Williams, President and CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. Hydro manages Newfoundland and Labrador’s electricity system, generating and transmitting most of the province's electricity, and exporting electricity to other parts of Canada and the United States.   Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro operates several hydroelectric plants, including the Churchill Falls Generation Station in Labrador, which has a capacity of nearly 5,500 MW and is among the top ten hydro dams in the world outside of China. The utility has also recently commissioned Muskrat Falls ..read more

Despite frequent pronouncements that the world should stop using coal, it still consumes vast amounts of black rocks. According to the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, coal's global primary energy consumption was about 15% above natural gas in 2022 and only 15% lower than crude oil.  Coal consumption has yet to decline. Instead, coal use has plateaued for the better part of the last decade.  Because of its carbon intensity and large consumption, Peter and Jackie describe coal as the “herd of elephants” in the room for meeting aggressive decarbonization and clim ..read more

This week, our guest is Dawn Farrell, President and CEO of Trans Mountain Corporation. On May 1, 2024, the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP) started commercial operations. Over a decade in the making, this milestone is a huge accomplishment. Originally built in 1953, the expansion project triples the pipeline's capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 B/d.    This significant expansion of Canada's only oil pipeline to the West Coast comes at an important time since Canadian production was expected to hit the limits of the existing pipeline system later this year. The expansion will al ..read more

This week our guest is Doug Hooper, Director of Policy and Regulations at Advanced Biofuels Canada. Advanced Biofuels Canada is an industry association that promotes the production and use of biofuels and renewable synthetic fuels. One of the topics covered in the podcast is Canada’s Clean Fuels Regulation (CFR). The policy is nearing its first anniversary after coming into effect on July 1, 2023 (Canada Day). The rule requires Canadian refiners and fuel importers to reduce the carbon intensity of the gasoline and diesel sold by about 2% annually between 2023 and 2030.  By 2030, under th ..read more

Jackie and Peter provide an update on ESG this week on the podcast.  Has the anti-ESG movement started to change companies' reporting and actions?   To answer this question, they reviewed some articles and research that point to the recent loss of momentum and profile for the ESG movement.  There have also been examples of companies exiting sustainability-focused organizations. While sustainability may have peaked in these regards, it is not going away. Companies continue to report on their sustainability performance and set goals for improvement. Mitigating and monitoring the r ..read more