What We Do
Generating awareness in the industry
BRC-Canada is a community where buyers can learn how to source renewable energy directly from renewable energy project developers. Building on the successful experience of the Business Renewable Center U.S., BRC-Canada is a non-profit initiative seeking to catalyze the market for non-utility procurement in Canada to grow renewable energy development in the country.
Building a strong community
BRC-Canada makes it easier for corporations to enter the renewable energy market by sharing the hard-earned lessons of the early movers in the U.S. and Canada. We host an annual member-only summit to bring veteran renewable purchasers and deal-makers together with those exploring the opportunity.
Creating effective tools and services
We publish primers and guides on such topics as Power Purchase Agreement accounting and deal structures. We provide access to ongoing market intelligence through the BRC Marketplace and Deal Tracker, our conferences and webinars, market insight reports, blogs, newsletters, webinars and more. These tools help first-time buyers advance swiftly up the learning curve to make informed procurement decisions, and complete their deals faster, more easily, and more cost effectively.
Founding Members
Members
The BRC Story
Members will have access to an expanding suite of tools and resources to aid the development of renewable energy purchases for Canadian organizations.
Our Goal
To help corporations and institutions procure 500 megawatts of renewable energy by 2021.In 2014, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) established the Business Renewables Center in the U.S., bringing together corporations, project developers and intermediaries. Through engaging with industry, RMI recognized the market barriers that hindered corporations from executing large-scale wind and solar transactions and resolved to establish a member-based platform to overcome those barriers.
BRC-US publicly launched with 28 founding members, including General Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Nestlé Waters, Owens Corning, Salesforce, and major project developers and transaction service providers. Today, the BRC-US has over 260 members who have delivered over 11 GW in renewable energy deals; 96% of those transactions involved at least one BRC-US member.
Business Renewables Centre Canada launched in 2019. BRC-Canada works with industry experts and build upon the knowledge and tools developed by RMI's BRC-US model to furnish the Canadian industry with the support required to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy by the commercial and industrial sector.
The BRC Team
Sara Hastings-Simon
Founding Director
Sara is the founding director of BRC-Canada and a senior fellow at the Pembina Institute, Canada’s leading clean energy think tank. Prior to joining Pembina, Sara was the manager of the cleantech practice at McKinsey & Company where she developed an integrated North American supply and demand electricity market model. She holds a PhD in physics from the University of Geneva and has lived and worked in the United States, France, Switzerland, and Canada.
Sara has over a decade of experience in cleantech, sustainability, and markets, working with utilities, renewable energy developers, financial institutions, governments (provincial and national), and oil and gas companies. She sits on the board of Emissions Reduction Alberta and was a member of the Alberta Clean Technology Task Force.
Julia-Maria Becker
Director
Julia-Maria is the director of the Business Renewable Centre Canada as well as director for Pembina Institute's clean economy program in Alberta. She works on corporate, government and community-based sustainability projects in Alberta relating to clean economy with a focus on energy efficiency and carbon pricing.
Before joining the Pembina Institute — Canada’s leading energy think tank — Julia worked for an international organization, Student Energy, where she led the Energy Literacy Platform; she is now on the board of directors of Student Energy. She also worked at Alberta Ecotrust where she was responsible for the organization’s social innovation lab.
Saeed Kaddoura
Analyst
As an analyst Saeed is responsible for coordinating BRC-Canada’s fundraising, research projects, events, and on-the-ground execution of the vision for the growth of BRC-Canada. He supported the release of the Alberta market primer (Plugging In: Opportunities to procure renewable energy for non-utility companies and institutions in Alberta) by identifying the interests, concerns and knowledge gaps surrounding non-utility procurement in the province.
Saeed has five years of experience in renewable energy and environmental policy. He joined the Pembina Institute in 2018, and has worked on growing Alberta’s renewable energy sector and creating an environment that support companies with voluntary renewable investments.
Kurt Archer
Communications Lead
Kurt is the communications lead for BRC Canada as well as communications lead in Alberta for the Pembina Institute, Canada’s leading energy think tank.
Prior to joining the Pembina Institute in 2019, Kurt ran a communications consultancy for four years. Before that he was the grant manager and communications director for the Alberta Real Estate Foundation.
Kurt completed his bachelor's degree in political science from Carleton University before moving to South Asia for three years where he started two community based organizations in environmental education.
Join BRC Canada
BRC-Canada has launched and the first member event will take place in 2019. Memberships for renewable energy buyers, sellers and intermediaries are available now at two levels. The entry level membership for buyers is free.