Powering Canada’s Energy Future Through Innovation
APPLICATION NOW CLOSED
About the Energy Innovation Challenge
The Energy Innovation Challenge (EIC) is a program managed by Decentralised Energy Canada (DEC) in partnership with the City of Medicine Hat, with funding from the City, Prairies Economic Development Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Emissions Reduction Alberta, APEX Alberta, and five Canadian early and growth stage innovators. The program accelerates Alberta’s energy transition through innovative decentralised energy solutions that improve grid resilience, reduce emissions, and enhance energy affordability. The pilot projects are located in Medicine Hat positioning winners at the forefront of Canada’s clean energy future.
Useful Links:
The City of Medicine Hat
Press Releases
PROGRESS REPORT TO DECEMBER 31, 2025
Challenge Statements
The EIC Program demonstrates innovative solutions and technologies that improve grid reliability, grid resiliency, energy affordability and sustainability. The Challenge was designed to meet the following specific challenge statements:
Grid Decongestion at Customer Level
Relieving congestion at the customer/building level
Demand side management – Solutions offering a non-wires alternative and business model to help shave peak demand and reduce customer bills
Energy efficiency – Solutions offering whole-building scale energy efficiency solutions and on-site technologies at the residential, commercial and industrial consumption level (e.g., heat pumps, heat recovery, district energy, building integrated energy storage, etc.)
Energy density – Solutions offering building scale technologies and systems that can help reduce energy density and needs for the City and its customers
Grid Decongestion at System Level
Optimising current energy infrastructure on the distribution level
Predictive modeling – Solutions offering predictive modeling to help manage growth demand at the distribution system level
Energy storage – Solutions offering energy storage and other technical innovations to optimise the technical, economic and environmental performance of the City’s energy system
Energy aggregation – Solutions offering energy aggregation solutions and systems (e.g., virtual power plants) and offers innovative solutions, business models and contracting solutions
System modeling – Solutions offering dynamic system modeling to optimise distribution systems in real time
Watch our video to learn more about Decentralised Energy
Challenge Timeline
Program Activities
INNOVATION
CHALLENGE
COMMUNITY
PROJECTS
INVESTMENTS
CHALLENGE
WINNERS
-
ARCUS POWER
-
EDGECOM ENERGY
-
AQUA-CELL ENERGY
-
TAKENERGY
-
EGUANA
FAQs
-
There are multiple funding partners for this program. The total available project funding is $1 million. The entire EIC program, which has three phases, has received $2.4 million in funding. The City of Medicine Hat is providing a specific amount of the $2.4 million. The $1 million project funding will be split between the successful projects (up to six).
-
Up to six projects will receive funding. This means that project funding will be divided between a maximum of six projects.
-
Yes, you may submit multiple applications. There are no restrictions on the number of applications that a single proponent can submit; however, we encourage you to submit only your best and most complete project applications.
-
Yes, one project may cover multiple challenge statements. Applicants are invited to submit solutions that address one or more of the EIC challenge statements. Fit with challenge statement(s) is a scoring criterion for the program.
-
There is no maximum project value. Intake 1 was up to $250k and intake 2 was up to $500k.
Funding requests from the EIC should not represent more than 50% of the total required project budget. The applicant will self-fund the remaining project costs, or through additional funding programs, or partnering organisations outside the EIC program and its funding partners. Applicants should ensure that their funding requests are reasonable and proportionate to the overall funding available and the scope of their project.
-
The lead applicant (i.e., solution provider) must be a Canadian company. The program targets small and medium businesses that need support to overcome existing commercialisation barriers and bring their innovations/solutions to the market. Applicants will be thoroughly vetted before being awarded funding. If a specific product or service needed to complete the project is unavailable in Canada, it may be purchased from a foreign vendor.
-
No, it is unnecessary to identify a specific test site location for the application. However, it is to the Applicant's benefit to research the distribution network design and layout of the City of Medicine Hat and suggest specific sites to enhance the application's quality.
Program Sponsors
