Favoriser la décarbonisation par l’intégration des systèmes énergétiques

The report examines the current state of Energy Systems Integration (ESI) in Canada, focusing on five key technologies: electric vehicles, heat pumps, demand response, distributed generation, and hydrogen. It argues that while Canada has successfully decarbonized its electricity grid, further progress requires coordinating energy vectors and scales. The author identifies significant barriers, including fragmented governance, a lack of integrated modeling, and a policy landscape dominated by voluntary 'soft' incentives rather than systemic mandates. The document recommends replacing sectoral subsidies with market reforms that remunerate grid flexibility and implementing integrated modeling platforms to guide coordinated infrastructure investments.

• Energy Systems Integration (ESI) is defined as the coordination of energy system operation and planning across multiple trajectories or geographic scales to provide reliable, cost-effective energy services with minimal environmental impact.
• The maturity of ESI technologies varies: electric vehicles and solar photovoltaics are well-positioned to contribute to decarbonization, while solar water heaters and hydrogen applications for industry and vehicles are currently not viable at the required pace.
• Canadian ESI policies are characterized by a lack of coordination between federal, provincial, and municipal levels, as well as inconsistencies between government targets and utility forecasts.
• Current Canadian energy policies rely heavily on voluntary 'soft' incentives and individual behavioral changes rather than systemic, legislative mandates, which the author suggests is an ineffective approach based on past failures to meet Kyoto Protocol commitments.
• Most existing policies target individual measures in isolation (e.g., EV rebates or building codes) rather than addressing the intersections between sectors, such as coordinating EV charging with grid capacity.
• A critical structural barrier to ESI is the compartmentalization of modeling tools; operational models for transport and buildings are rarely linked to electrical grid distribution models or economic equilibrium models.
• Hydrogen infrastructure and regulation in Canada are in early stages, with significant gaps in injection and quality standards for natural gas networks and a lack of interprovincial coordination.
• To accelerate decarbonization, the report recommends shifting from one-time subsidies to market reforms that remunerate flexibility services and utilizing integrated modeling platforms to understand synergies between variable renewables and flexible loads.

APA

McPherson, M., Seatle, M., Xu, R., Stanislaw, L., & Knittel, T. (n.d.). Favoriser la décarbonisation par l’intégration des systèmes énergétiques. Canadian Climate Institute. https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ICCC-Favoriser-la-decarbonisation-par-l_integration-des-systemes-energetiques-par-Madeleine-McPherson.pdf

Chicago

McPherson, Madeleine, Madeleine Seatle, Robert Xu, Lauren Stanislaw, and Tamara Knittel. Favoriser la décarbonisation par l’intégration des systèmes énergétiques. Canadian Climate Institute, n.d. https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ICCC-Favoriser-la-decarbonisation-par-l_integration-des-systemes-energetiques-par-Madeleine-McPherson.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{mcphersonndfavoriser, author = {McPherson, Madeleine and Seatle, Madeleine and Xu, Robert and Stanislaw, Lauren and Knittel, Tamara}, title = {{Favoriser la décarbonisation par l’intégration des systèmes énergétiques}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, url = {https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ICCC-Favoriser-la-decarbonisation-par-l_integration-des-systemes-energetiques-par-Madeleine-McPherson.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }