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Five new interprovincial power transmission links designed to wire together Canada’s “fragmented” electricity networks have been announced by the federal government, a first step in advancing its recently released National Electricity Strategy. 

The proposed interties connecting grids across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the west, as well as Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the east (see factbox below), could be granted status as projects of national importance to develop a “more reliable, affordable, and sovereign” grid, Ottawa said.

“Our government has moved assertively to build one economy out of thirteen and give ourselves more than anyone else can take away, and the electricity grid is an obvious next step,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in a statement. 

“By working together, we can ensure every Canadian from coast to coast to coast can rely on secure, homegrown electricity to support our national security, economic growth and a sustainable, affordable future,” he added.

The government will refer its Transmission InterConnect Investment Strategy to the major projects office, set up last year to identify and help finance high-priority “nation building” projects. 

The Calgary-based department has so far focused its mission on LNG export terminals, critical minerals mines, ports, and an offshore wind-plus transmission megaproject. 

Missing links: Five interties key to Canada grid

Hodgson, speaking at a major mining conference in Yellowknife, pointed to the government’s new 15 per cent clean electricity investment tax credit, as well as financing through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund and the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, as key supports for development of the provincial interties. 

A view of high voltage power lines silhouetted against a sunset sky. Photo by Pok Rie via Pexels

‘No one-size-fits-all’

Climate and clean economy advocacy groups broadly welcomed the transmission expansion strategy, but also flagged the challenges ahead. 

“Naming specific priority projects is a vital step" in support of a nationwide clean power grid, but provincial negotiations would be complex, said David Pickup, director of the electricity program at the Pembina Institute, a think tank. 

“This announcement moves us on from talking about interties in the abstract,” he said. “Instead, providing a clear focal point for governments and industry to rally around: five specific lines that need to be prioritized to support national security, reliability, and affordability.”

While this momentum is positive, each of the five interties will require its own separate set of negotiations. "There is no one-size-fits-all," Pickup said. 

“The complexity of the challenge does not mean it cannot be overcome,” he added, pointing to one factor that has shifted the political calculus.

“For the first time in a long time, there is one big benefit to all provinces in expanding their east-west interties: reducing dependence on a volatile US,” Pickup said.

‘National priority’

Evan Pivnick, associate director of public affairs at Clean Energy Canada, a think tank, said “few electricity infrastructure projects will play a bigger role” in advancing the government’s goal of doubling national grid capacity. 

“Bringing new interties online should be a national priority that sits at the core of our efforts to expand our electricity system, helping ensure both households and industries have access to the low-cost, reliable, and clean electricity they need to electrify and lower energy costs into the future,” he said. 

Merran Smith, president of New Economy Canada, a think tank, said the interties would “go beyond moving electricity across provincial and territorial borders [and was] an important and long-overdue investment in Canada’s economic future.” 

“Stronger interties will give businesses greater confidence that Canada’s electricity system can support the next generation of industrial growth,” she said.

Canada’s electricity grids have historically been built to supply power to local industries and populations and generally connected south to US markets but rarely to one another.

Calculations by a number of grid experts suggest a ballpark cost of around $35 billion for a pan-Canadian grid. 

The payback — until now stymied by ideological debates over fossil fuels versus clean energy — would be an economic boon valued in the tens of billions of dollars, as well as a myriad of social and environmental benefits.

Modeling by the CD Howe Institute calculated a $1.7 billion federal investment in interprovincial transmission infrastructure could unlock an immediate $6.6 billion injection from the private sector — and a further $95 billion over 10 years for new renewable energy plants that could deliver power onto an interconnected trans-Canadian electricity system.  

Without a nationwide power network and provincial interties, Canada will face a future battling blackouts on grids stressed by soaring demand and more extreme weather, according to a report last year from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the US-based authority responsible for the continent’s bulk power system.