CTC #72 - Cyclic Materials expands and Alberta un-pauses renewables

Plus- MaRS launches Women in Cleantech Network, Elevated Signals raise a Series A to optimize manufacturing, and the feds back nuclear expansion.

Mar 06, 2024

Hey there,

Welcome to another issue of Climate Tech Canada!

One story that stood out to me this week is that the feds offered $50M to expand Bruce Nuclear plant in Ontario. It’s the first major investment from the feds to expand nuclear in decades and Canada’s first large-scale nuclear construction in 30 years. On the surface it’s just another government funding announcement, but to me it shows how much support for nuclear has shifted in the last few years and the momentum that’s picking up.

This week in climate tech:

Elevated Signals raises Series A to optimize manufacturing
Cyclic Materials expands its recycling platform
Alberta undermines its growing renewable energy sector

Let’s go!

💰 Funding

🦾 Elevated Signals raised a $7.9M Series A led by Yaletown Ventures for its manufacturing operations software. The company helps manufacturers digitize and optimize their operations with live inventory tracking and integrating data from sensors. They’re expanding their focus to enable climate tech customers like controlled environment agriculture, mining, and critical minerals recovery.

💧 StormFisher Hydrogen secured a $30M investment from ARC Financial to develop renewable fuels facilities. StormFisher produces electrolysis-based fuels including clean hydrogen, e-methane, e-methanol, and green ammonia.

🚦 Miovision, a traffic management platform, acquired US-based Traffic Technology Services for an undisclosed amount. Miovision develops hardware and software to help cities manage their traffic networks, reduce congestion and lower emissions. TTS developed vehicle-to-everything solutions, connecting vehicles with the car’s surroundings through sensors and cameras.

💧 World Energy GH2 secured a $128M credit facility from EDC to support its wind-to-hydrogen and green ammonia project in Newfoundland and Labrador.

📈 Milestones

♻️ Cyclic Materials is expanding its rare earth element recycling solution to accept wind turbine generator and MRI machines, adding new feedstock streams.

🚌 Lion Electric laid off 100 workers or 7% of its workforce. Lion pointed to granting delays from the Zero Emission Transit Fund, which many customers rely on to finance orders, as the cause. The company recorded a $100M net loss last year.

📊 Carbon Neutral Club has rebranded as Mammoth Climate, and will focus on its employee climate engagement solution to help companies tackle Scope 3 emissions.

🚀 MaRS launched the MaRS Women in Cleantech Network. Made up of current and past Women in Cleantech participants, the network includes access to ecosystem support champions, an online community, and exclusive roundtables.

🗞️ In the news

☀️ Renewable moratorium ends … kind of: Alberta’s pause on renewable energy projects is coming to an end, but uncertainty still looms due to potential new rules for the sector. These include a ban on projects within 35km of protected areas and “viewscapes”, requiring “visual impact assessments” for others, and no projects on land with the best irrigation (unless project proponents can prove there’s no impact on agriculture). Changes still need to be implemented, which could be months or years away.

📉 Fighting prices: Canada may adopt alternative pricing models for battery critical minerals to fight dumping and market manipulation. For example, producers in China can sell materials at rock bottom prices because they’re backed by the government, winning more market share.

The U.S. Department of Defence is exploring models that would try to account for the true cost of the materials to improve price transparency, adding a new signal to markets. Some Western miners are exploring premium pricing models by focusing on their quality and stability, and looking to incentives like the IRA to offset the price for automakers.

🗞️ In other news:

Canada will partner with Australia on developing critical mineral supply chains for the energy transition and reducing dependence on China.
The feds will provide $18.1M to Rio Tinto to decarbonize its iron ore processing operations in Labrador.
NRCan started early consultations about including EV-ready requirements in the National Building Code.
Alberta introduced a flat $200 tax on new EVs intended to account for wear and tear from their weight. Heavy ICE vehicles will not face the same tax.
Saskatchewan residents won’t receive Carbon Rebates after the province chose to withhold carbon levies to the feds.
The Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network is creating two new pilot zones in Toronto and Windsor to help develop zero-emission and connected vehicles.
Vancouver will encourage more mass timber projects by allowing applicants to build up to 15 storeys.
Desjardins Group will no longer offer mortgages in high risk flood zones, including areas of Montreal. About 1.5M homes already can’t get flood insurance.
Glaciers in the Yukon are emitting far more methane as they melt than previously thought.

📣 What’s going on

🗓️ Climate Connections: Bio Edition: Explore key challenges to adopting sustainable packaging from industry and end users, hosted by Foresight. March 12th, online.

🗓️ Cleantech 2024 Finale Pitch Night: Join the finale event for Startup TNT’s Summit featuring pitches from the top 5 finalists. March 14th, Calgary and online.

🗓️ U of T Climate Impacts Hackathon: Get your hands dirty with global climate models, and explore how they can help quantify regional-scale climate change impacts. March 15-17th, Toronto.