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Home > Strategic Initiatives > Energy
Accelerate the development, demonstration, and adoption of technologies that support a reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy future.
Energy is a cornerstone of Alberta’s economy, contributing significantly to economic growth, exports, investment, and employment while providing the energy needed to power communities and industries. As global energy systems evolve in response to increasing energy demand, decarbonization goals, and technological advancements, Alberta has a unique opportunity to strengthen its position as a global energy leader through innovation and technology development.
Alberta’s abundant natural resources, skilled workforce, world-class research institutions, and industrial expertise provide a strong foundation for developing next-generation energy solutions. By advancing innovative technologies and integrating new approaches across the energy value chain, Alberta can enhance energy security, improve system performance, reduce environmental impacts, and create new economic opportunities.
The Energy Portfolio aims to accelerate the development, demonstration, and adoption of technologies that support a reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy future. Through strategic investments in research, technology development, and collaborative partnerships, the portfolio seeks to address energy system challenges while enabling economic growth and competitiveness.
The portfolio aligns research and innovation with government priorities and industry needs by focusing on two key areas: Energy Sources and Energy Systems. Strategic investments in these areas aim to bridge technology gaps, improve energy production and distribution, enhance system efficiency and resilience, and support the transition to a more sustainable and integrated energy future.
The portfolio uses a continuous intake process, as described in the Application Guide. In addition, periodical calls for proposals (also known as funding competitions) will be issued to award grant funding. Each call for proposals will have specific priorities and criteria, along with a dedicated portfolio description and application process guide.
Energy Sources focuses on the advancement of innovations that enable the production of natural resources, generation of electricity and the conversion, storage, transmission, and management of all energy sources through the development of innovative materials, components, technologies, and energy generation systems that enable the production of reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy. This includes advancements in hydrocarbon recovery, electricity generation, fuel cells, catalysts, membranes, advanced coatings, thermal management systems, reactor materials, distributed energy generation technologies, and other core technologies that improve energy production and conversion across our existing and emerging energy platforms.
Investment priorities include enhanced energy production efficiency, durability, performance, and scalability through novel materials, manufacturing processes, component designs, system architectures, energy production and generation technologies, and energy conversion mechanisms that strengthen Alberta’s energy competitiveness by enabling more efficient, cost-effective, and lower-emission energy generation solutions.
Energy Systems focuses on the infrastructure, technologies, and processes required to transport, distribute, store, and manage energy safely, efficiently, and reliably throughout the energy value chain. As energy systems become increasingly diverse and interconnected, innovation is needed to ensure the effective movement of fuels, electricity, and energy carriers from production to end users.
Investment priorities include hydrocarbon infrastructure safety and efficiency, modernization of electricity transmission and distribution systems, hydrogen transportation and storage solutions (including compressed gas, liquefied hydrogen, carriers, and advanced containment technologies), methane emissions management, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) infrastructure, integrated energy management systems, digital technologies, and system optimization solutions that improve reliability, resilience, efficiency, and interoperability across energy networks. This innovation area is focused on strengthening Alberta’s energy infrastructure, enabling adoption of emerging energy technologies, reducing emissions, and supporting the transition to a more flexible and sustainable economy.
See our portfolio guide for more details and investment priorities.
Energy Vanessa White, P.Eng Executive Director Vanessa.White@albertainnovates.ca
Hydrogen and Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) David Van Den Assem, BSc, M.E.Des, MBA. LEED Green Associate Program Director David.VanDenAssem@albertainnovates.ca
Electricity including Nuclear Robert Baker, P.Eng Program Director Robert.Baker@albertainnovates.ca
Hydrocarbons, Methane Emissions Management and Digital Bruce Duong. P.Eng, M.Eng Senior Program Manager Bruce.Duong@albertainnovates.ca
Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Mohammad Chowdhuri, PhD, M.Eng, PMP Technology Lead Mohammad.Chowdhuri@albertainnovates.ca
Agriculture & Forestry, Clean Technology, Emerging Technology & Data Science, Energy, Entrepreneurial Investment, Environment