Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation Announces $50 Million in Funding for Renewable Energy Projects

Renewable energy is naturally replenished. It is derived from feedstock that is renewable and from natural or waste materials including, for example, solar energy, wind energy, mini-hydro, geothermal heat, as well as energy produced from sources such as biomass.

"We expect that the respondents for this EOI will be diverse," said Newell. "We hope to see proposals from industry, municipal utilities, research and development organizations, technology developers and service providers."

Applicants are encouraged to attend workshops in Calgary, Oct. 12 or in Edmonton, Oct. 14. The workshops provide information on the proposal process and the requirements that must be included in every proposal. Details are available on the CCEMC website, ccemc.ca.

The maximum CCEMC contribution to an individual project for this call for proposals will be $10 million and the maximum project length is five years. The deadline is November 4. There are no restrictions on the number of proposals that may be submitted by an applicant.

This is the third call for proposals issued by the CCEMC. In June the organization committed more than $71 million to 16 clean technology projects from its first call for proposals.

The second CCEMC call for proposals was for energy efficiency projects. It offers $40 million in funding and closed on August 13. Fifty-two proposals were received from industrial organizations with project budgets totalling $591 million, and requesting a total of $170 million in CCEMC funding. Seventeen projects have been approved to go to the full project proposal stage with budgets totalling $276 million, and requesting $67 million in CCEMC funding. Proponents are being notified of the status of their projects and information on the short-listed projects will be available online October 2, at http://ccemc.ca/projects.

To ensure that each proponent receives equitable consideration, a Fairness Monitor, who reports to the CCEMC Board of Directors, oversees all stages of the evaluation process.

Funding for the CCEMC comes from the Government of Alberta, who collects it from industry. Since 2007, Alberta companies that annually produce more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are legally required to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity by 12 per cent. One compliance option is to pay into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund at $15/tonne.

The CCEMC is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to establish or participate in funding for initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support adaptation. The CCEMC invests in discovery, development, and operational deployment of clean technologies.

www.ccemc.ca