POWER PLAY: Technical Report

The document outlines a benchmarking framework used to assess how jurisdictions attract investment in wind, solar, and battery projects. It defines six metrics: energy planning, flexibility planning, transmission planning, electricity procurement, industrial rate modernization, and climate policy certainty. The report provides the specific data sources, scoring rubrics, and calculation methods used to evaluate Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, British Columbia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, New South Wales, Washington, and Texas.

• The energy planning metric assesses the 'industrial demand planning gap' by comparing a jurisdiction's baseline electricity plan to the actual industrial project queue as of December 2025, applying a conservative 50 per cent cancellation rate for projects in the queue.
• Flexibility planning is measured by the growth of usable flexible capacity (from hydro, flexible gas, storage, imports, and demand response) relative to peak demand and the increasing share of wind and solar generation between 2019 and 2024.
• Transmission planning is primarily indicated by observed curtailment—the ratio of solar and wind energy generated but not delivered relative to total generation—with a rapid rise in wasted energy signaling structural constraints.
• Electricity procurement is evaluated based on three equally weighted factors: market access (frequency of procurement calls), market volume (average new renewable capacity added), and price certainty (the type of contracts available to generators).
• Industrial rate modernization is assessed by the impact of primary rate incentive programs on reducing annual peak demand and reducing industrial electricity bills, with high scores requiring strong performance in both areas.
• Climate policy certainty is scored by combining 'policy certainty on the books' (existence of legally binding economy-wide and sector targets plus implemented instruments) and historical policy stability between 2016 and 2026.
• In the climate policy certainty assessment, Germany and the United Kingdom received the highest overall scores (5), while Alberta received the lowest (1).
• Investment in wind and solar projects in Alberta reportedly dropped by 99% from 2023 levels to nearly zero in 2025, attributed largely to policy uncertainty and anti-renewable rules.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (2026). POWER PLAY: Technical Report. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Power-Play-Technical-Report.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. POWER PLAY: Technical Report. 2026. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Power-Play-Technical-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=POWER PLAY: Technical Report |date=June 2026 |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Power-Play-Technical-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitute2026power, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{POWER PLAY: Technical Report}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Power-Play-Technical-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }