International Partners

The Office of Energy Research and Development (OERD) coordinates the Government of Canada's participation in international energy R&D.

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International Energy Agency

Canada's international collaboration on energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) is mainly advanced through participation in the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Technology Network, which includes the Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT), CERT Working Parties and Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs).

CERT, comprised of senior experts from IEA member governments, considers effective energy technology policies and incentives to improve energy security, encourage environmental protection and maintain economic growth. The committee oversees the technology forecasting, analyses and the RD&D strategies of the IEA Secretariat. It also provides strategic guidance to its Working Parties, Experts' Groups, and TCPs.

A TCP is a cooperative project established by at least two IEA member countries to carry out a wide range of activities such as energy technology RD&D and analysis, capacity building, dissemination and scientific exchanges.

Mission Innovation

Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) working to accelerate global clean energy innovation. MI was announced at COP21 on November 30, 2015, as world leaders came together in Paris to commit to ambitious efforts to combat climate change.

OERD leads Canada’s participation in MI.

For more information on Canada’s contributions, please visit our member page on the MI website.

Canada-UK Power Forward Challenge

The Canada-UK Power Forward Challenge was a $20-million joint initiative between Natural Resources Canada (led by OERD) and the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Launched in October 2018, Power Forward challenged Canadian and UK innovators to join forces and accelerate breakthrough innovations that harness distributed energy resources for more integrated, cleaner, and flexible power grids, ready for 2030 and beyond. The seven finalist teams selected in June 2019 each received up to $3.15 million to build a demonstration of their solution and compete for the $1 million Grand Prize, which was awarded on March 30, 2022 at the Globe Forum in Vancouver.

Congratulations to Equilibrium Engineering on winning the $1M Power Forward Grand Prize for their Alba Nova project, developed in partnership with Scotland-based StorTera! Using an innovative artificial intelligence platform to predict solar and wind energy generation and demand of customers for the day ahead, the project in the Town of Berwick, Nova Scotia, introduced a unique smart grid solution that integrates intelligent energy storage, energy efficiency, renewable energy generation and demand-side response. This replicable solution will store renewable energy to be used when it cannot be produced, providing value to the utility grid and customers, while driving down greenhouse gas emissions.

Power Forward builds on Canadian and UK strengths in smart grid technology, creates opportunities for Canadian and UK firms looking to expand into new markets, and supports both countries’ leadership and competitiveness in clean technology innovation.

For more information on Power Foward and the other cleantech challenges delivered by NRCan under the Impact Canada Initiative, please visit the Impact Canada website.