UP TO THE CHALLENGE: ACHIEVING A NET ZERO GRID IN ALBERTA

The report finds that Alberta can almost completely decarbonize its electricity generation within the next decade using wind, solar, and gas with carbon capture. While federal Clean Electricity Regulations are a point of political contention, modelling suggests they have little impact on the long-term supply mix compared to the massive projected growth in electricity demand driven by industrial electrification. The transition's success depends on scaling up transmission infrastructure and maintaining policy stability to attract private investment.

• Alberta possesses the natural resources and technical capacity to nearly fully decarbonize its electricity generation within the next ten years, aligning with the flexibility expected in updated federal Clean Electricity Regulations.
• Modelling indicates that the federal Clean Electricity Regulations have minimal influence on the future development of Alberta's grid; in both scenarios (with and without the regulations), electricity demand is expected to more than double, met primarily by wind, solar, and gas with carbon capture.
• To achieve economy-wide net zero, Alberta would require a massive expansion of renewables; wind and solar generation would need to grow by 650% of 2023 levels to supply over 100 terawatt-hours annually by 2040.
• Industrial electrification is predicted to be the primary driver of load growth, with the industrial sector alone potentially reaching 130 terawatt-hours of demand by 2040, which exceeds the entire province's 2023 generation of less than 90 terawatt-hours.
• Transmission capacity is a critical bottleneck; current constraints are already affecting wind and solar, and the pace of infrastructure build-out could severely limit future carbon emissions reductions.
• While carbon capture and storage (CCS) on gas-fired plants appears in most models, its private-sector viability is uncertain, as evidenced by Capital Power terminating a CCS retrofit project due to it not being 'economically feasible'.

APA

Weis, T. (2024). UP TO THE CHALLENGE: ACHIEVING A NET ZERO GRID IN ALBERTA. Canadian Climate Institute. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Achieving-Net-Zero-Electricity-in-Alberta-1.pdf

Chicago

Weis, Tim. UP TO THE CHALLENGE: ACHIEVING A NET ZERO GRID IN ALBERTA. Canadian Climate Institute, 2024. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Achieving-Net-Zero-Electricity-in-Alberta-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Weis |first1=Tim |title=UP TO THE CHALLENGE: ACHIEVING A NET ZERO GRID IN ALBERTA |publisher=Canadian Climate Institute |date=August 2024 |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Achieving-Net-Zero-Electricity-in-Alberta-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{weis2024challenge, author = {Weis, Tim}, title = {{UP TO THE CHALLENGE: ACHIEVING A NET ZERO GRID IN ALBERTA}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Achieving-Net-Zero-Electricity-in-Alberta-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }