Johnson Shoyama – Graduate School of Public Policy – Feb 4, 2026
If Canada is to become an “energy superpower” it needs to make participation in the global clean electricity revolution a national priority. Seizing the rapid growth of solar energy will be key to securing a prosperous economic future.
By Peter Nicholson, Chair, Canadian Climate Institute, Member of the Order of Canada
Summary
- Energy drives economic progress. Those nations and regions that have secure access to the cheapest and most abundant future energy supply will enjoy the best economic prospects.
- It is increasingly clear that electricity, generated primarily from clean renewable sources, will dominate the future of global energy. Wind and especially solar are already the cheapest sources of new electricity generation capacity in many places.
- The cost of solar generation will continue to decline due to: (i) technological innovation in the conversion of sunlight to electricity; (ii) industrial scale economies together with learning curve effects; and (iii) innovation in all other elements of the supply chain including installation, very high-capacity batteries and other forms of storage, and long-distance transmission.
- China is currently the runaway leader in energy electrification; in the clean renewables supply chains; and in many end use applications. The West cannot afford to continue to cede cheap renewable energy leadership to China.
- Although the Trump administration emphasizes fossil energy today, eventually the many advantages of wind and especially solar power will force the US to turn aggressively to those sources.
- Discussion of Canada’s energy future has proceeded largely without recognizing the decisive role that clean energy, and particularly solar electricity, is destined to play in the global economy. Solar generation contributed less than one percent of Canada’s electricity supply in 2024, putting us near the back of the pack among peer group countries.
- The declining cost of solar cells and battery storage means that Canada’s northerly latitude is no longer a significant disadvantage regarding solar energy generation. Our abundant uncongested land area and complementary hydro and wind resources, including “pumped hydro” storage sites, can serve as natural batteries to smooth solar variation both daily and seasonally. These significant Canadian advantages justify massive solar development.
- What’s holding us back? There are several factors including the prevailing conservatism of utilities and regulators; a failure to fully appreciate the longer-term economic implications of the global solar power revolution; and the provincially-siloed jurisdiction over energy in Canada that so far stands in the way of a vision of national interconnection that would benefit everyone.
- A global energy revolution driven by cheap solar power is underway. But so far Canada remains on the sidelines. To be an energy power of the future, Canada needs to go where the world is headed, not to where it has been.