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News from week of September 7th – September 14th, 2026
Disclaimer: Grid Watch is an independent publication. Views expressed are author's own and do not reflect the positions of Manitoba Hydro or any other featured utility.
Canada Takes Its Energy Projects to Global InvestorsOttawa pitched more than 160 energy projects to international investors this week, while provinces argued over who should pay to expand the grid.
In this week's issue...
⚡ Ottawa’s investment pitchbook features 11 oil and gas megaprojects alongside 31 clean energy developments. 🔌 TC Energy says it will keep investing in Alberta gas as AI data centre demand grows. 🔋 Nova Scotia’s grid operator widens its technology search beyond gas plants to include batteries. 
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne ahead of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto. Source: Canada’s National Observer. National HeadlinesCanada pitches mix of 'conventional and clean energy' to power $1 trillion capital pushCanada's National Observer, September 14th 2026 Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne put Canada's energy resources at the centre of the country's pitch for global capital ahead of the inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto. The investment prospectus features 11 oil and gas megaprojects alongside 31 clean energy developments, part of a portfolio of more than 160 projects put to international financial institutions managing over $120 trillion in assets. Champagne told delegates that Canada's resource wealth, fiscal stability and reliability were increasingly valuable amid geopolitical uncertainty. Ottawa moves to reduce duplication in approval process for some large energy projectsThe Globe and Mail, September 9th 2026 New federal regulations mean some projects previously reviewed under both the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act will no longer be subject to the former. The change covers oil sands extraction, some pipelines and transmission lines, and is a first step toward the government's promised "one-project, one-decision" model, with broader legislation due this fall. Heather Exner-Pirot of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute called the change "extremely impactful" and a top request of industry associations. OpinionWhy Canada's new voluntary framework for AI data centres won't workThe Hill Times, September 9th 2026 Natasha Tusikov, an academic who studies internet regulation and governance, argues that Ottawa's new national framework for AI data centres will not do the job it is being asked to do. Her case rests on the instrument rather than the intent: voluntary principles carry no legally binding force, and she writes that such arrangements typically lack both efficacy and transparency even though governments and technology companies often prefer them to binding regulation. Offering voluntary principles to govern data centres during a climate emergency, she argues, is "foolhardy and destructive."
Regional RoundupKitikmeot Inuit Association, Tugliq Energy to receive $20M loan for wind projectNunatsiaq News, September 9th 2026 The Canada Infrastructure Bank is lending $20 million to Montreal-based Tugliq Energy and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association's business development arm for a wind project at Agnico Eagle's Hope Bay gold mine, 125 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay. The first phase pairs a 4.2-megawatt turbine with four megawatts of storage, and is expected to supply 20 per cent of the mine's energy needs in high wind and cut annual diesel use by seven per cent. Four more turbines are planned.
Power Sustainable plans $10-billion investment push in Canadian infrastructure and companies over five yearsThe Globe and Mail, September 10th 2026 Power Sustainable, the alternative asset manager backed by Power Corp., plans to deploy $10 billion into Canadian infrastructure and companies over the next five years. The commitment lands in the same week Ottawa took its project prospectus to international investors, and adds a domestic institutional buyer to a market where most large energy and infrastructure builds are competing for the same pool of patient capital. 
One of Nova Scotia Power’s three grid-scale battery facilities, at Waverley, N.S. Source: CBC News. Policy & PricingAlberta's Smith says Crown corporation for natural gas unlikely after report leakedCanada's National Observer, September 14th 2026 Premier Danielle Smith says a provincial Crown corporation for natural gas is unlikely, after the leak of a cabinet report that had raised the option. The leaked document questioned whether existing pipeline capacity can serve Alberta's emerging AI data centre industry alongside oil sands and other demand growth. The episode puts the province's gas transmission adequacy — and who is responsible for fixing it — onto the public record ahead of any formal policy decision. Low-interest finance can ease pocket-book pressure from high energy costsClean Energy Canada, September 9th 2026 Clean Energy Canada argues that low-interest financing can reduce the household bill pressure created by high energy costs, by lowering the up-front barrier to efficiency and electrification upgrades that cut consumption. The analysis is relevant to utilities running conservation and demand-management programs, where the financing structure often determines participation rates more than the incentive amount does. Innovation & TransitionN.S. grid operator to open new, broad search for energy technology, including batteriesCBC News, September 11th 2026 Nova Scotia's independent grid operator is broadening its search for new energy technology, opening the door to options beyond the natural gas plants proposed for Pictou County that have drawn local opposition. It remains to be seen which technology is ultimately chosen. Opposition parties have questioned the operator's independence, noting the pivot came shortly after a request from the premier. Nova Scotia Power already owns three grid-scale battery facilities in the province.
TC Energy urges co-operation on growing network to meet 'generational' gas demandCBC News, September 14th 2026 TC Energy, which moves roughly three quarters of Western Canada's natural gas, says it is prepared to keep investing in its Alberta network to meet what it calls generational demand. The company has spent $15 billion on expansion projects over the past decade. The statement followed the leak of an Alberta cabinet report that questioned the company's ability to serve the province's emerging artificial intelligence data centre industry, oil sands projects and other sources of demand growth.
Worth NotingSummerside solar farm fire burns into a second week, flare-ups still expected. Read More CBC News, September 14th 2026 Quebec sought a 65-year term, N.L.'s lead Churchill negotiator says. Read More CBC News, September 14th 2026 Advocate warns N.L. power bills are heading for a Muskrat Falls cliff. Read More CBC News, September 13th 2026 Capital Power's CEO says regulatory roadblocks still deter investment capital. Read More The Globe and Mail, September 14th 2026 Enjoying this brief? Share it with a colleague. Subscribe to Grid Watch hereHave a news story we should cover, a tip, or thoughts on this edition? Send it over. Want to reach this audience? Sponsor a future edition. |
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