Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

93 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 11 DECENTRAL I ZED ENERGY CANADA “We were formed by a group of leaders in Alberta,” recounts Founding President, Anouk Kendall. “There was a workshop with utilities and energy generators, and all of the who’s who of the utility industry came to this workshop. The question of do we need an industry association to look at decentralized energy was posed, and the response was a unanimous yes, we do need an industry association to look at this.” Although the association’s journey began in 2003 as a regional entity in Alberta, Kendell quickly recognized the need to expand nationally due to limited momentum and support for decentralized energy initiatives. At the time, only a few provinces in Canada had net metering and net billing policies in place to facilitate distribution-connected energy. Initially faced with challenges in garnering financial backing and regulatory support, the organization made a change. Kendall elaborates, “We decided to make a real pivot and go directly into the industry.” Over time, they successfully built a robust network of stakeholders throughout the complex decentralized energy value chain, involving communities, hospitals, utilities, technology providers, and investors. “It’s a broad range of people that are involved in the decentralized energy space, as opposed to the traditional energy sector, which is utility- centric, mostly run by utilities,” she maintains. “We’ve got over 10,000 subscribers in our network in Canada, covering all of the different segments of the value chain.” A Diverse Membership With a membership that has held steady between 100 and 150, Kendall notes. “It’s cool. We’re just little but we’re tough. We have a lot of impact.” She says the association’s membership is highly diverse and includes a wide range of invested participants from various sectors within the industry, maintaining that they bring together government representatives at all levels, with a strong focus on municipalities as key players in energy democracy and microgrids. Around 40% of the membership consists of entrepreneurs, covering areas such as predictive analytics for the grid, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and software development. Additionally, the membership includes investors interested in supporting innovators in the field. The association’s work involves assisting members with regulatory reviews,