Thank you.
My name is Francis Bradley. I'm the president and chief executive officer of Electricity Canada. Thank you for inviting me to speak to the committee as part of its study on Canadian energy exports.
This study is timely. Canada's ambition is to become an energy superpower. Electricity has a major role to play in this plan.
Electricity Canada is the national voice of the electricity sector. Our members generate, transmit and distribute electricity in every province and territory.
Clean, reliable and affordable electricity powers the Canadian economy and is a competitive advantage for Canadian industry.
These three stats demonstrate how exceptional our sector is. The first is 84%. That's the percentage of non-emitting electricity generated in Canada. This makes our grid already one of the cleanest ones in the world. Next is 99.98%. That's the reliability rate of our grid, ensuring that the lights turn on when needed. The last is 51%. That's how much lower our electricity rates are compared to the OECD average, solidifying our competitive advantage over our peers.
The electricity sector plays a fundamental role as an exporter and enabler of energy exports. The electricity sector is a net exporter, having exported an average of 40 terawatt hours annually to the United States over the last decade. In 2024, the value of this trade was $4.484 billion.
While the trade surplus has been smaller in recent years, two-way trade still serves an important and ongoing role for reliability and resilience. However, electricity is essentially exported in every other sector of the economy, from LNG to aluminum. Almost every export in Canada is, to a degree, an electricity export.
For example, the electrification of the expected Cedar LNG facility with clean B.C. electricity has been foundational for the project's advancement. The natural gas liquefied at this facility is destined to go overseas and will be marketed as among the lowest-carbon LNG in the world.
Electricity also powers the production of aluminum in Canada, which is mostly exported. In 2021, we effectively exported over 40 terawatt hours of electricity in the form of aluminum.
The list could go on and on, from critical minerals to petroleum refinement. Electricity makes it happen.
As Canada seeks to diversify its trade relationships, advance nation-building projects and strengthen the competitiveness of its industries, the electricity system must grow with these industrial priorities while preserving our sector's competitive advantage. Canada is experiencing a rapid increase in electricity demand, which is expected to double by 2050. To meet demand, we are going to have to build more electricity infrastructure in the next 25 years than we have in the last century.
Our task is to build again, decisively and ambitiously, to grow the electricity system that is at the heart of Canada's long-term prosperity. Last month, we launched our 2026 state of the Canadian electricity industry report, “Forging Canada's Electricity Future”. It provides recommendations to support the government's ambitious goal of making Canada a global energy superpower.
To achieve this, we have three key recommendations.
First, we must modernize our regulations for a 21st-century electricity system. To start, the government should implement a two-year federal approval timeline for all electricity projects.
Second, we must mobilize capital to finance the build-out. This means making the most of existing supports and removing barriers to investments, things like the EIFEL rules.
In conclusion, we must strengthen the capacity and resilience of the sector. To this end, we must work with the sector to mitigate the impact of extreme weather and to tackle growing labour shortages and supply chain issues. We have a rare opportunity to unlock our country's potential, and we must seize it.
Thank you for the opportunity to join you.