Photo by Joel Willick
A discussion on how to successfully implement renewable energy in remote and northern communities took centre stage in Saskatoon on Tuesday.
Experts from Alaska, Finland, Norway, the Yukon and Northwest Territories along with Indigenous and industry leaders gathered for the one day symposium at the University of Saskatchewan.
Panel discussions included success stories, technological advancements, best business practices and proper policy. All with the intention to help remote and Indigenous communities transition to renewable energy.
Greg Poelzer is an organizer for the symposium and a faculty member at the School of Environment and Sustainability. He is excited to see the ideas people can take from the discussion and is hopeful northern communities in Saskatchewan can begin to manage their own local renewable energy deployment.
“So there are ideas that can come out of this conference like micro grids that can connect to larger grids as well as leading technologies that work in northern places,” said Poelzer. “If we can bring some of that to Saskatchewan and move the dial forward, that is going to be a success.”
Poelzer he is especially excited to hear expertise from Alaska because they have the largest deployment of renewable energy of any off grid communities around the world.
“They have lots of experience in cold weather along with Indigenous communities leading the implementation,” said Poelzer, “There is a lot of experience we can draw from to advance here in Saskatchewan.”
Gary Merasty, the CEO of Indigenous-owned Sage Power, was the MC for the symposium. He is also excited about the opportunities that will come out of Tuesday’s discussion.
“As a northern country with a tremendous amount of northern communities that are reliant on inconsistent power, renewable energy and how it is deployed in these communities will be a busy space over the next little while,” said Merasty.
The symposium was co-hosted by the U of S School of Environment and Sustainability and Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Office of Applied Research.
The event is part of a larger initiative that will see similar symposiums in Calgary and Yellowknife.