Federal investment supports innovation in Alberta’s electricity grid

May 3, 2019

Canada’s future prosperity goes hand-in-hand with a sustainable and clean environment. A clean economy creates growth and well-paying jobs, while preserving Canada’s natural heritage for generations to come.

Today, Randy Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), announced $1,889,500 in funding towards Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)’s new Centre for Grid Innovation (CGI). This new facility will promote innovation and growth in Alberta’s clean technology sector by helping companies develop, test, and demonstrate innovative power generation technologies. 

Through this investment, the CGI, which will be located at NAIT’s Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC), will help companies explore innovative power generation technologies and move them to market by providing a ‘plug and play’ microgrid to develop, test and demonstrate new grid technology and renewable energy prototypes. The facility will also help foster partnerships between businesses, utilities providers and vendors.

Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan aims to build an economy in which Canadians have access to high-quality jobs and Canadian businesses are well-placed to participate in a rapidly evolving and competitive global marketplace.

Navdeep Bains explained the investment will encourage innovation from small businesses, “Our government is laying the foundation for Canadians to become more competitive and succeed in the global economy,” he said, “[This] investment in NAIT’s Centre for Grid Innovation builds on our competitive advantages and will result in small businesses testing new grid technologies and bringing them to market, boosting economic growth and creating good, middle-class jobs for Canadians.” 

Source