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The government has also allocated $5 billion from its still-under-development Canada Infrastructure Bank for green energy infrastructure projects but did not specify what would qualify.

Canadian Electricity Association president and CEO Sergio Marchi said in a release that his group is looking for more details on how the bank “will help our members” deliver reliable energy.

Edmonton-based electricity economist David Gray, of Gray’s Energy Economics, said the best way to use that infrastructure money to boost renewable power generation in Canada is to build interconnections between provinces with hydro-electric dams, like B.C., Quebec and Newfoundland, and provinces with windmills like Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

He said hydro and wind energy are complementary sources of renewable energy and those electricity sources in different provinces could be paired together.

“To my mind, that’s probably the biggest nation building exercise that they could go to and the one that would have the most long-term benefit,” Gray said. “I look to the government to undertake those projects that are either too uncertain or too long-term for the private market.”

He said it’s unclear at this point whether Ottawa’s other clean technology funding would have a real impact on green energy generation or if it would be “just window dressing.”

Executives at various clean-tech and electricity industry groups expressed their support for the funding announced in the budget and suggested it would have a real impact in developing a clean tech industry.