Community Energy on the Road to Reconciliation: Understanding the key components of Community Energy Planning Tools for Indigenous communities

Abstract

Community energy planning is becoming a common tool for ensuring communities are meeting their energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets. Community energy planning is the process of developing an energy and emissions baseline, engaging the community to create a community energy vision, and implementing a plan to achieve short-, medium-, and long-term goals for energy efficiency and renewable energy development. While there are various reasons a community may choose to develop a Community Energy Plan (CEP), Indigenous communities have been using community energy planning as a tool to gain political autonomy, advance self-determination, develop capacity in renewable energy projects, and ensure Indigenous ownership and control of renewable energy projects. A number of tools and resources can assist in developing a CEP, but none address the specific needs and goals of Indigenous communities interested in community energy planning. This research project included a document analysis of published CEPs, CEP tools and resources, as well as CEP policies and funding programs. The research project also involved semi-structured interviews with public officials working in community energy planning with Indigenous communities. These two methods were used to develop criteria for assessing community energy planning tools, resources, and policies for Indigenous communities. The research concluded that meaningful and accessible community energy planning tools for Indigenous communities must balance technical and social considerations, be action-oriented, balance visionary versus pragmatic elements, be economical to conduct, and be simple with options to add complexity as required. The outcomes support the development of community energy planning tools, resources, and policies for meaningful and accessible CEP toolkits that assist Indigenous communities in reaching their social, economic, and renewable energy goals.