By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he wants to double the capacity of the country's electricity grid by 2050, an effort that officials say comes with a nearly trillion-dollar price tag.
In a shift from his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, Carney is signaling that the government is open to natural-gas production to meet future electricity needs. The Trudeau administration's clean-energy initiatives aimed to discourage, but not necessarily ban, the use of natural gas.
The doubling of electricity capacity is required to meet demand, officials said, from sectors such as rare-earths mining, artificial-intelligence data centers and advanced manufacturing.
"When we master energy, we master our destiny," Carney said in a press release.
In documents outlining the government strategy, officials said the country's electricity systems "must be strengthened to reduce exposure to external shocks and help protect affordability for Canadian households and businesses at a time when price pressures are significant."
The documents said this expansion of Canada's electricity system by 2050 is forecast to cost over 1 trillion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $730 billion.
Complicating Carney's strategy is the country's federal system. Under Canadian law, electricity generation is a provincial jurisdiction. Federal efforts under the former Trudeau administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via clean-energy regulations drew intense criticism from provincial governments, especially Alberta, arguing that Ottawa was intruding in their jurisdiction. Under that policy, officials aimed to increase electricity generation from low or non-emitting sources.
Carney's revised plan said that in many parts of the country, "natural gas provides baseload and operational flexibility that complements intermittent renewables like wind and solar." The document added that Canadian natural gas "has one of the lowest emissions intensities in the world. With the introduction of new technologies for methane abatement, we will be capable of further reducing emissions intensity."
For now, Canadian officials intend to begin consultations over the next four months with the provinces, indigenous groups, and electricity generators and utilities about how to double capacity.
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-14-26 1023ET
