CALGARY — On a wintry day last November, Daphne Kay looked up at an expanse of gleaming solar panels located on Cowessess First Nation reserve land just east…
A 2020 report by national not-for-profit organization Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise identified 197 medium-to-large renewable energy generating projects with Indigenous involvement, either in operation or in the final stages of planning and construction.
“They’re the largest asset owners, outside of utilities,” Henderson said. “Indigenous communities across the country right now are, quite literally, the largest change agents for clean energy.” “We can’t have a net-zero transition without continued and growing Indigenous participation,” Henderson said. “If you’re going to modernize the electricity grid, you’re going to be using land, which means you’re going to have to work with the Indigenous communities whose land it is.”Article content
Indigenous communities are also asserting that right, increasingly seeking to get involved in clean energy projects as full owners. Cowessess, for example, owns 95 per cent of the Awasis solar project with the opportunity to become full owners after five years. Kay said it was able to become involved because of a First Nations Opportunity Agreement between the First Nations Power Authority and SaskPower, the provincial utility.
But new technology allows for more diversification of ownership,” he said. “Moving to a clean energy future requires us to decolonize the energy system.”
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