Renewable energy projects doubled in Canada’s remote communities over the five years from 2015 – 2020, a July 6 report from the Pembina Institute finds.
As the report notes, remote communities in Canada, the majority of which are Indigenous, are still overwhelmingly reliant on diesel fuel for heating and electricity generation. Burning diesel for heat and power creates local health and environmental issues, and diesel must be transported into hard-to-reach communities at high cost.
By 2020, remote communities had installed more than 11 times as much solar capacity as they had in place in 2015, the report found. Renewable electricity projects total 102 from Newfoundland and Labrador to Yukon, for a total new electricity generation of 12,148 MWh per year, or 19% of total electricity generation. Solar projects lead the total, followed by small hydro. Three communities have been connected to provincial or territorial grids since 2015. The survey covered 213 communities.
But as the report also notes, diesel use in 2020 is still 682 million litres per year – two-thirds for heat and one-third for electricity. Even given the switch, total diesel consumption has increased since 2015, due to population growth. Considerable effort is still required, the report says, to put an end to diesel dependency and to transition to clean energy.
Diesel Reduction Progress in Remote Communities is available from Pembina.org.