Government Instruments and Community Energy: Advancing Energy Transition in Northern and Indigenous Communities

Abstract

Energy transition is considered to be one of the greatest solutions to climate change, given that the adoption of renewable energy reduces drastically the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy can also address energy security problems, especially when combined with local ownership. For example, community energy, that is, renewable energy projects with community ownership or participation, is one of the alternatives to the limited, unreliable and expensive power generation scenario of northern and Indigenous communities in Canada. The implementation of community energy, however, depends on supportive government instruments, such as energy policies and regulations. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the nature and implications of these instruments for enabling community energy, especially in the context of northern and Indigenous communities. Thus, this research explores role of government instruments in facilitating energy transition and renewable energy development in northern and Indigenous communities. To do so, this research explores the current emphasis of scholarly research on government instruments for community energy, and identifies the government instruments supporting or hindering community energy in northern and Indigenous communities in Canada. The results show that there are multiple instruments available to support community energy, and emphasizes the importance of coordination and complementarity between the levels of government and between government instruments. The findings also emphasize the importance of localized government instruments to offer equitable and meaningful opportunities for community-owned renewable energy projects in northern and Indigenous communities.