Innovative technologies promise to provide goods and services better, cheaper and in ways never envisioned before. But often these technologies are ahead of the regulatory curve and stumble because the regulatory environment is designed in ways that exclude them.
One example is geothermal energy for distributed electricity production. Geothermal energy – broadly described as the natural heat of the Earth – is renewable, controllable and clean. Distributed generation – small-scale electricity production at or near where the electricity will be consumed – is reshaping how the world thinks about electricity grids. Both are relative novelties in Alberta.