Community Futures Entre-Corp and APEX Alberta assisted in hosting the event, Expanded Technologies Pilot, with Emissions Reductions Alberta (ERA), to let businesses know there are resources available to transition their business into a more eco-friendly model.

ERA has invested in Alberta companies and technologies since 2009. These investments help innovators develop and demonstrate GHG reducing technologies to lower costs, improve competitiveness, and accelerate Alberta’s transformation towards decarbonization.

Marketing manager for Enerva and Summerhill Portia Baladad introduced ERA and her co-hosts for the event. She says ERA currently offers the Energy Savings for Business Program (ESB), a program that accelerates the adoption of commercially available technologies to help businesses cut costs and reduce emissions. The creation and launch of Expanded Technologies Pilot (ETP) is an expansion of ESB.

“Since our launch of ESB last year, we’ve granted pre-approvals to over 1,300 projects worth over 24M dollars in incentives. We’ve received many inquiries about technologies not available on the measures list, and this feedback has led to the design of the Expanded Technologies Pilot,” says Baladad.

ETP is a new pathway for Alberta businesses to propose effective commercially available technologies that aren’t currently supported through ESB. Program Manager of ERA Brittany Tran continued the event to explain more about the pilot program and says the program is taking applicants until March 31, 2023.

“If successful, businesses will receive funding of up to 250,000 dollars per eoi submitted to help cover 50 per cent of eligible expenses,” says Tran. “Proposed projects must have a minimum of 10,000 dollars in eligible expenses, and the lead applicant and project partners can also access up to one million dollars in total incentives through both the ESB program and ETP pilot.”

To be eligible your business must have reductions less than 200 dollars per ton of CO2. These two programs, ESB and ETP, are pieces of the province’s response in helping small to medium-sized businesses navigate the challenges they’re facing, while reducing emissions.

Program Manager Stacey Cameron ends the event and explains the three steps to apply: expression of interest, full project proposal, and project execution.

Expression of interest will ask the lead applicant to register and complete the EOI application. ERA will assess, and if the application is successful, ERA will request an FPP. From there, applicants will then go through the full project proposal and project execution if approved throughout the process.

“To help you with any questions you may have, we also offer an application assist service where you can reach out to our contact centre team. Let them know you’d like to connect with the application assist team or the ETP team,” says Cameron. “The team will help you with questions on the guidelines, EOI, or FPP applications.”

For more information, you can contact etp@esbprogram.ca, call 1-844-407-0025 or go online at www.eralberta.ca/esb.