A groundbreaking new outlook from the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) predicts that new electricity capacity in Canada through 2050 will be dominated by wind, solar, and battery storage technologies. The 2025 Renewable Energy Market Outlook report asserts that these three sources could together supply as much as 70 % of Canada’s new electricity capacity.
The report models onshore wind, utility-scale solar, and grid-scale batteries (excluding behind-the-meter technologies), and arrives at a scenario where 70% of future grid capacity expansion comes from those renewable sources.
Canada currently operates about 150 gigawatts of generation capacity—predominantly hydro, fossil fuel and nuclear—with only a small share from wind, solar and storage. That existing base will need to more than double (to 300–350 GW) to meet future load growth.
One of the compelling elements of this forecast is the investment and economic stimulus potential. The analysis suggests that annual clean‐energy investment in wind, solar, and storage in Canada could total CAD 14–20 billion per year, and over a decade reach CAD 143–205 billion, supporting 250,000–350,000 job-years in direct and indirect employment.
Such growth would accompany the rollout of new electricity infrastructure aligned with affordability, reliability, and carbon-reduction goals.
The geographical breakdown in the report also highlights regional opportunities and challenges. Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, B.C., and Atlantic Canada are profiled with specific deployment strategies.
Ontario’s current energy procurement rounds are “technology agnostic,” but with the economic case clearly favoring renewables. Wind and solar are expected to claim a leading role in the province’s share of new electricity growth.
In the Canadian context, solar panels Canada projects on a utility scale (as opposed to small rooftop arrays) are a central part of that forecast. With continuing cost declines and technological improvements, solar is no longer fringe — it is foundational. The new Eeectricity era in Canada will thus lean heavily on solar, wind, and battery storage as the pillars of its growth.
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