Giant U.S. subsidies begin luring Canadian clean tech companies and talent to move south

The timing couldn't have been better for Calgary-based Kanin Energy to open an office in Texas last year. It was just as the U.S. government unveiled its massive climate bill, including tens of billions of dollars in new subsidies and other incentives for clean energy. 

Kanin Energy develops facilities that use high temperature waste heat from industrial facilities to produce electricity. The new U.S. subsidies now cover up to half the cost of those projects.

"Not only are we seeing a lot of traction in Houston and Texas and in the United States in general, now there's all these incentives that have really turbocharged our economics for our projects," Janice Tran, the company's CEO, said from her office in Houston. "So it made even more sense to actually kind of double down and grow here."

U.S. President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is driving many Canadian clean energy startups to shift their focus and resources south of the border to capitalize on the subsidies and the related influx of activity. 

Experts say this could result in the loss of investment in Canada, which could slow the development of clean energy and emission reduction projects north of the border and make it more difficult to achieve national climate goals. There is also the risk of losing trained workers, known as brain drain.

The Canadian government is introducing its own grants, but some industry executives say Ottawa's support is too narrow or not robust enough to compete with what's offered in the U.S.

For Tran, her company doesn't qualify for the investment tax credit in Canada, which can cover up to 30 per cent of the cost of many green energy and clean tech projects such as renewable energy, battery storage and hydrogen production.

Kanin Energy is now hiring in the U.S. and will begin shifting staff south of the border if it doesn't gain any traction on its Canadian proposals.

"We're going to grow in the United States because that's where it makes sense," Tran said. "In Canada, the economics, they're just not as high. So we don't have any projects that are currently in late-stage development. Everything that we have in Canada is early stage."

Since the passing of the IRA last year, dozens of multi-billion dollar energy transition projects were approved, said Kevin Krausert, CEO of Avatar Innovations, an energy innovation and investment firm.

"Companies are fleeing Canada right now," said Krausert. "I can't think of an interesting energy technology startup working on net-zero ambitions that is not actively setting up shop in the United States right now."

The federal government needs to offer incentives that are comparable to the IRA, he said, to slow down the amount of investment dollars leaving Canada.

"If you are an investor and you want to invest a dollar in emissions reductions technologies, are you going to invest that dollar in Canada or are you going to invest in the United States where you can generate a much superior return right now?" he said.

The federal government began consultations this month on its proposed investment tax credit. Government officials say the tax credit is one piece of its overall strategy to attract clean energy investments. Overall, Ottawa has committed $120-billion to building a clean energy economy since 2015, a spokesperson said.