It’s Time to Unleash the Potential of Smart Energy Communities in NB and PEI

 Enhance collaboration between governments, regulators and utilities to align policies, programs, pilots and initiatives with Community Energy Planning principles and solutions.

Establish a province-wide standard data collection centre or process for energy consumption and GHG emissions reporting to enable a baseline energy and emissions inventory to support municipalities in developing informed climate and energy plans, and measuring their impact over time.

Establish provincial communications strategies to improve energy literacy and promote Smart Energy Communities such as those participating in the QUEST Smart Energy Communities Benchmark or Accelerator Program, and members of FCM-ICLEI Partners for Climate Protection.

Align and simplify access to Federal & Provincial funding and FCM funding programs which support municipal projects to reduce energy and GHG emissions.

Allow multi-year energy efficiency financing and programs via provincial utility, and include deep energy retrofits to existing housing stock (low-income in particular).

Establish on-bill financing or Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) style programming. These have been effective in Nova Scotia & Alberta, and enable energy efficiency retrofits and clean energy conversion in residential and commercial sectors. Although a traditional PACE program would not be possible under current legislation in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, alternatives such as on-bill financing are possible.

Remove secure energy-related municipal borrowing (including for Community Efficiency Financing or PACE) from the calculation of municipal Debt Service Coverage Ratios (DSCR). Also consider developing Provincial tools to de-risk and expand municipal lending, (e.g. a revolving PACE loan fund and a loan guarantee program). FCM provides up to $2M loan guarantee through the Community Efficiency Financing stream.

Enable tax exemptions or reductions for rental housing owners who increase energy efficiency of their properties and pass savings on to their tenants.

Support training opportunities for developers and building inspectors (on new Building Codes, Energy Performance Standards, new technologies, etc), as well as increase the number of building inspectors.  Bolster trade sector capacity and training to undertake the required energy efficiency and renewable energy work, and community energy planning in NB and PEI Municipalities.

Ensure energy performance standards for equipment and buildings are established for all government-based procurement activities.

Offer infrastructure and incentives for converting to lower emission fuel sources / alternative fuels (eg CNG, hydrogen, renewable natural gas, etc) for transportation and building heat.

Incentives for electric vehicles for municipal, commercial and private vehicles could include point of sale discounts, provincial refund, installation of home chargers, and car recycling.  Success depends on strong collaboration with car dealerships.

Improve public transit and multi-modal transit with a focus on regional planning and alignment, as well as funding or incentives to increase ridership. 

Require that all land use plans include provisions for non-motorized transportation as part of any development beyond a specific density threshold.

Focus on regional planning and alignment, transit and active transport amenities, as well as incentives such as point of sale discounts of bikes and bike rack installments. Active Transportation requires multiple land use decisions (eg right of way, lanes, trails, crossings, amenities, connectivity, hub access, etc) which could be guided, and regulated by the Province as part of municipal plans.

Through education, marketing and incentives if needed, encourage  telecommuting in the age of COVID-19.

Implement an emissions-based vehicle registration fee or use charge to promote emission free transportation options and use revenues to reinvest in zero-emission vehicle supports.

Several municipalities are keen to harness local resources and develop local clean energy generation, however in New Brunswick the current Embedded Generation program and LORESS have already achieved their caps/targets thus NB Power is not accepting new applications until approved to do so by the regulator and government policy. 

Establish Community Feed-In Tariff program or some type of community-based Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

Enable Municipal Ownership of Local Energy – Update legislation to enable municipalities to own and operate local small-scale energy systems (e.g. Combined Heat and Power, District Energy, Microgrid, Wind Farm, Solar Farm, MicroHydro), and to accrue savings from efficiency measures or revenues from clean energy production, which can be used to capitalize new projects (including further efficiency measures, renewable energy systems, active transportation initiatives, etc), year over year.

Enable Municipal-Utility Ownership of Local Energy – Update legislation to allow municipal utility-owned renewable energy systems, permit municipal utilities to access provincial transmission infrastructure and to direct revenues to their stakeholder (the Municipality), which could accelerate progress toward both economic and environmental goals. This would encourage investment in new grid-tied renewable energy systems and accelerate Return on Investment / Rate of Return.

Establish provincial policy to require that all land use plans and zoning bylaws in NB (or PEI) include provisions for the inclusion of commercial (e.g. large scale wind), district (e.g. energy from waste on farms), or micro renewable energy systems (e.g. neighbourhood solar gardens or home based systems).  Provide best practice examples from existing local policies in NB and other jurisdictions.