The world continues to move towards decarbonizing despite political and economic hurdles. According to the most recent International Energy Agency (IEA) Global World Energy Outlook, global investment in clean energy technology and infrastructure hit USD$2 trillion in 2024, twice the amount for fossil fuels. A growing share of investments in clean energy and technology are in electrification.
What’s Electrification?
Electrification means replacing technologies powered by fossil fuels—such as oil, natural gas, or diesel—with ones powered by electricity, especially from low-carbon or renewable sources. Examples include switching from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles (EVs), from natural gas furnaces to electric heat pumps, and from diesel-powered machinery to electric alternatives.
One result is that global demand for electricity grew at twice the rate of overall energy demand from 2010-2023. Current IEA forecasts see worldwide demand for electricity between 2023-2035 rising six times faster than overall energy demand. Increasing electrification requirements for EVs, AI, microchip production and air conditioning are some key drivers of rising demand. 1
Why Electrify?
Carbon reduction: Energy-related CO2 emissions created by economic and personal activities can be cut by using clean, renewable energy sources. It’s already happening in transportation – EVs, electric buses (BC Transit has 125 on order) and commercial trucks (you may have noticed electric FedEx delivery vans, which are made by GM Canada).2 This is significant because the transportation sector accounted for 31% of Canada’s total energy related emissions in 2022.3
Energy efficiency: Renewable electrification technologies are often more efficient than those powered by fossil fuels due to the primary energy “lost”, or used, in converting fossil fuels into usable, secondary energy via combustion. Coal is one of the most inefficient (and polluting) primary energy sources while hydroelectric power (dams) is one of the most efficient and cleanest.
Consumer savings: Estimates vary across Canada, but some research indicates that a household that swaps its gas cars for EVs, installs a heat pump and replaces its natural gas appliances could save up to $700 a month on its energy bills. But a key factor can be the level of financial incentives (if any) offered by provincial governments to help with upfront costs. 4
BC is in a good spot
BC is well positioned to benefit from the move to electrification thanks to an abundant supply of renewable energy. More than 98% of the power BC Hydro produces comes from non-emitting sources, with 91% generated by hydroelectric dams. This gives BC a critical head start in electrifying its economy and represents significant economic potential. Clean Energy Canada estimates that the clean energy transition could create over 400,000 jobs nationwide by 2050, many of them in BC.5 Expanding electrification could make BC products – and power – more attractive to global markets increasingly attuned to carbon inputs and sustainability standards.6
Private power generators see opportunity
Despite significant new supply from the Site C hydroelectric dam coming online in 2025, BC Hydro is forecasting a power shortfall in the future. In 2024 it sought proposals for up to 3,000 gigawatt hours of annual renewable electricity. Independent power producers responded with 21 proposals encompassing three times that amount from renewable sources, indicating alignment with Hydro’s energy forecast.7 However 70% of the proposed energy generation would come from solar and 20% from wind. Both are less efficient than hydropower due to intermittency (they aren’t consistently available) but few private producers can build a dam capable of generating significant amounts of hydropower.
Bell chooses BC for AI – and hydroelectricity
An example of where increasing demand is coming from is a new AI initiative by Bell Canada. In late May, 2025 Bell announced it will open six data centres in BC as part of a plan to create the largest AI compute project in Canada. The facilities will provide around 500 megawatts of hydroelectric-powered AI compute capacity, the technology that enables AI systems to process data and train machine-learning models. Locations announced so far are Merritt and Kamloops. The Kamloops facility will open this summer in partnership with Groq, a US semiconductor start-up that focuses on making chips for accelerating the speed at which AI chatbots respond. 8
Challenges
Labour. Total employment in the sector in BC has increased by over 12% in the past five years – equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 2.3%. Most of this growth is concentrated in the renewable energy space. Close to 28,000 new employees will be needed by 2028, equivalent to 25% of the current labour force – 57% to replace retiring employees, 43% to meet expansion demand. 9
Sources
1 The world is moving at speed into the Age of Electricity – Spotlight – IEA
2 BC Transit to add more Buses and Lower Carbon Emissions – BC Transit
3 Canada – Countries & Regions – IEA
4 Opening the Door – Clean Energy Canada
5 British Columbia Archives – Clean Energy Canada
9 Electricity Human Resources Canada | Improving our Industry, Together