Alberta’s bid to attract artificial intelligence data centres could be sabotaged by its own energy policies, says RMI co-founder and world renowned energy analyst Amory Lovins.
A ‘Challenging Climate for Renewables’
As the province favours data centres that bring their own power, its policy is making investments in renewable generation increasingly difficult. A new industrial carbon pricing framework announced this week will further undermine Alberta’s ability to attract clean energy capital, the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) said in a release.
Proposed changes to the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program, often referred to as the “industrial carbon tax,” offer companies flexibility by recognizing “onsite emissions reduction investments” as a way to comply with the program. Currently, companies are required to pay into the TIER fund or buy carbon credits. The speed and scale of the expected changes is “surprising and troublesome,” said Radha Rajagopalan, CanREA’s director of policy for Alberta.
“With so many changes already under way in Alberta, in the electricity market and with government policy, these fundamental changes to TIER are adding to an already challenging climate for renewables.” Read more here.