FNPA’s Community Energy Plans

What is a Community Energy Plan? 

To address the complex issue of energy in Indigenous and rural communities, FNPA has developed a tried and true report system. The goal is to analyze a community’s current energy use and greenhouse gas emissions footprint, take into account the Nation’s future plans and objectives, and make recommendations on how to achieve energy goals, increase energy soviernty, as well as reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions . This includes reporting and strategies for employment, increasing energy efficiency, waste management, transportation, and more.

Community energy plans were previously only utilized in big cities, but FNPA understood the positive implications of this service on Indigenous communities and small towns.

Why Community Energy Plans? 

FNPA performs community energy plans for two key reasons: 

1. Economic opportunity: this plan helps with planning for future utility projects. 
2. Energy Sovereignty: Indigenous and rural communities can struggle with power outages, high power bills, and a lack of energy because they often don’t utilize natural gas. So, a community energy plan helps communities save money and access more reliable power sources.

What Does a Community Energy Plan Include? 

The report is around 100 pages long, but don’t let that intimidate you! It’s a ton of information, but our team works hard to make it accessible and useful for anyone who reads it. Your plan will include: 

• Information about your community, including people and demographics. 
• Content about your housing conditions and energy audits. 
• Insights into your current energy use and potential future energy use.
• Insights into current emissions and how to achieve net-zero goals.

Different ideas for clean energy adoption in your community. This could look like solar panels on schools, changing street lighting, different power sources, different capacity-building initiatives, or getting involved with SaskPower’s large power requests for proposals (RFPs).

What Follows a Community Energy Plan? 

This depends on the community. FNPA is always excited to work with a community based on their findings. This could look like: 

• Sharing funding opportunities. 
• Fulfilling recommended actions within the year, especially when it comes to community engagement events about energy efficiency, conservation, or sustainability in general. 
• Working through funding and first steps of clean energy projects. These often take a long time due to their complex nature, but we can get to work immediately after the community energy plan is complete! 

Some of the first steps we recommend taking once the community energy plan is delivered are in the vein of energy efficiency and conservation. These day-to-day considerations are far easier and more timely to implement than a larger energy project. And, even though the actions required to improve energy efficiency and conservation seem small, they add up! If you’re curious about actions you can take as an individual to improve your energy usage, take a look at this FNPA page. 

Why Your Community Needs a Community Energy Plan

Community energy plans are the best way to understand current energy usage and where improvements can be made with energy efficiency, involvement in clean energy projects, or engaging the community. Each community energy plan comes with sections that dispel common myths, educate about different power sources, and share the resources your community needs to make informed energy decisions. 

Our team loves connecting with communities and getting to know their intricate and unique systems and opportunities. Whether or not you implement any of the recommendations is up to your community, but we are happy to connect with you if you’re ready to leap into action! Ready to get started? Let’s connect!