The current situation is that the traditional capital markets are functioning very well for larger utility-scale projects that have contracted revenue streams. Typically, they have access to a very low cost of capital and, in combination with the lower capital costs, it means that renewables are now cheaper than they ever have been before.
But that same thing cannot be said for smaller projects or projects that do not have contracted revenue streams. For instance, if somebody installs solar on their home or their business, the real value stream is displaced future electricity costs or displaced future spendings. The same thing could be said about energy efficiency. You cannot easily monetize future energy you don't use, whereas there is a whole host of different benefits from that.
So size and the revenue streams are two reasons why it is very difficult to finance these smaller kinds of projects. But there is, however, an enormous opportunity from a technical, technological, and investment perspective within these projects.
We feel the Canada infrastructure bank could play a role. We have submitted a detailed submission to Infrastructure on that, and I would be pleased to share that with the committee for your consideration.