Yes, there are substantial economic benefits. As the member pointed out, the Town of Bridgewater in Nova Scotia has been a leader in climate change action, recognizing energy poverty as an issue in their riding and identifying how many dollars leave their community to import fossil fuels. The more energy that can be produced locally in a community such as Bridgewater, the more that money can stay within that region.
There are a number of reasons that companies and municipalities have signed up to buy clean energy from Renewall: They want to meet climate targets and they are publicly traded companies and companies that export to markets that have carbon border adjustments, such as Europe. Also, some companies are just looking for stable cost pricing as well.