Breakout Sessions

All breakout sessions are held in different rooms, so please note the location.

Breakout Session A: Biogas and Renewable Natural Gas (Case Studies)

9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

Location: Maritime Room

Immerse yourself in an enlightening session featuring Biogas and Renewable Natural Gas Case Studies tailored for utilities and municipalities. Uncover breakthroughs in sustainable energy, waste-to-energy solutions, and community-driven initiatives. Explore successful projects that illuminate the path towards cleaner, greener environments, providing actionable insights for a future powered by renewable gases.

Speakers:

Allan Murphy, SVP, Government Relations - Canadian Propane Association

Talissa Mathieu, Project Developer - Waga Energy

Derek Estabrook, VP Marketing and Business Development - Eastward Energy

Presentations include:

Derek Estabrook: An Overview of RNG Project Opportunities in Nova Scotia

Talissa Mathieu: Landfill gas upgrading into RNG: a landmark project in Saint-Etienne-des-Grès, Quebec, Canada

Allan Murphy: TBD

Breakout Session B: A Special Presentation by Province of Quebec

10:30 AM to 11:30 AM 

Location: Harbour Suites

Breakout Session C: The Bright Future of Offshore Wind

10:30 AM to 11:30 AM 

Location: Maritime Room

Navigate success stories and future plans for harnessing the power of offshore wind for clean energy solutions, grid resilience, and sustainable development. Gain valuable insights to steer your community towards a wind-powered future on the open seas.

Moderator: Melissa Morrison, Senior Commercial Manager - Natural Power

Anne-Marie Belliveau, Offshore Development Manager - DP Energy Canada

Gordon McIntosh, Chairman - Aberdeen International Associates

Kim Doane, Executive Director, Subsurface and Offshore Energy - Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables

Presentations include:

Kimberly Doane: Updates on Offshore Opportunities in Nova Scotia

Anne-Marie Belliveau: Nova East Wind: Canada’s Leading Offshore Wind Project

Gordon McIntosh: An Overview of European Offshore Projects

Breakout Session D: Renewables - Case Studies

11:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Location: Harbour Suites

Dive into a dynamic session showcasing Renewables Case Studies tailored for utilities and municipalities. Discover proven models and breakthroughs in renewable energy integration, grid resilience, and community-driven initiatives. Harness insights from successful projects to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, empowering attendees to shape a resilient, green future.

Moderator: Jean Habel, Director for Québec and Atlantic Canada - Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Ericka Wicks, Regional Sector Leader, Energy Transition and Renewable Energy – Canada East - Stantec

Dale Conroy, Senior Principal, Environmental Services - Stantec

Olga Minikh, SaaS & Digital Solution Lead - AVEVA

John Marriott, Cloud & Ecosystem Principal - AVEVA

Dean Chalmers, Energy Program Manager - Verschuren Centre

Erika Shea, President & CEO - New Dawn Enterprises

Liam Duffy, VP of the Construction Management - Renewable Energy Systems Canada

Presentations include:

Dean Chambers & Erika Shea: From Brownfields to Greenfields: Transforming Industrial Landscapes with Solar

Ericka Wicks & Dale Conroy: Repowering Wind Farms

Liam Duffy: The Challenges and Opportunities of Constructing Large Scale Wind Projects in Nova Scotia

John Marriott & Olga Minikh: Increase the Value of Energy Generated by Sharing Data with Your Ecosystem

Breakout Session E: Financing Building Retrofits, Presented by SOFIAC

11:40 AM to 12:20 PM

Location: Maritime Room

SOFIAC develops, manages and invests in major decarbonization and energy retrofits to the benefit of companies in the across all sectors including commercial, industrial, public and multi residential. Thanks to our unique solution we take charge of and assume 100 percent of the costs and risks for all project phases. Our approach is based on independently measured performance and requires NO investment from clients; project costs are reimbursed solely through a portion of generated savings. Our clients benefit from a positive cash flow as of the first day in addition to numerous other financial benefits.

Gordon Bourque, Vice-President – Business Development - Akonovia

Stuart Galloway, Executive Vice President - SOFIAC

Gregory Balycky, Director, Investments - Canada Infrastructure Bank

Breakout Session F: Empowering Community Energy Transition:
A Data-Driven Approach, presented by Climative

1:40 PM to 3:00 PM 

Location: Harbour Suites

Context setting, led by QUEST

• What's happening in the provincial and national market; the economic opportunity for municipalities in Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada

• Challenges that small municipalities face

• How might data informed community energy and emissions planning address these barriers?

Interactive data demonstration, led by Climative

• Showcase a pre-assessed Nova Scotia (aggregated data and homeowner reports)

• Audience participation: which communities should we look at?

• Audience participation: what insights should we dig into?

Discussion: how could this data be used to drive energy transition across Canada?

Breakout Session G: Strengthening Domestic Supply Chains for Growing Canada's Clean Electricity Grid

1:40 PM to 2:00 PM 

By Invitation Only.

Supply chains for the energy transition are under stress in Canada and around the world. We need new business models for a net-zero economy, including the ambitious challenge of growing Canada’s clean electricity grid over the next decade. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) invite you to join public utilities, large corporates, Canadian SMEs (small-medium-enterprises), business associations, and public policy experts at this interactive roundtable to identify opportunities for optimizing procurement processes and supply chain performance.

Chris Henderson, Founding Executive Director - Indigenous Clean Energy

Breakout Session H: Climate Literacy for the Building Sector, presented by Net Zero Atlantic

3:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Location: Harbour Suites

This interactive presentation will introduce Smart Energy delegates to the Climate Literacy for the Building Sector microcredential, developed by NSCC and the Building to Zero Exchange (BTZx), which provides learners with the opportunity to develop competencies concerning basic climate science and climate change mitigation and adaption practices relevant to those working within the construction sector in our region. The session highlights how learners' personal experiences inform their understanding of climate change and how this realization translates to action on the job site.

Daniel Basquill, Manager, School of Trades and Technology - NSCC

Chelsea Code-McNeil, Sustainability Consultant, Solterre Design & Casual Faculty - NSCC

Breakout Session I: Electrification Case Studies

3:30 PM to 4:30 PM 

Location: Maritime Room

Join our Electrification Session for a dynamic exploration of transformative energy solutions. Delve into case studies, innovative technologies, and collaborative strategies shaping the electrified future. Connect with industry leaders, utilities, and municipalities to accelerate the transition towards sustainable and resilient electrification. Spark the future with knowledge and insights.

Moderator: Pratap Revuru, Senior Director, Microgrid Solutions & Strategic Partnerships - Schneider Electric

Adam Chaffey, Technical Director, Smart City Lighting Products - Liveable Cities

Giles Counsell, Smart Energy Lead - Siemens

Presentations:

Giles Counsell: Distribution System Planning for Electrification: Evolving Distribution Planning to Prepare for the Impacts of Electrification.

Adam Chaffey: Traffic-Based Street Lighting – Better, Safer Energy Savings

Breakout Session J: Microgrid & Smart Grid - Case Studies

8:30 AM to 9:30 AM 

Location: Harbour Suites

Embark on a journey through cutting-edge Microgrid and Smart Grid Case Studies crafted for utilities and municipalities. Uncover real-world applications, technological advancements, and community-driven smart grid solutions. Gain practical insights into fostering energy independence, grid reliability, and sustainable urban development. Empower your community with the intelligence to build a resilient future.

Moderator: Pratap Revuru, Senior Director, Microgrid Solutions & Strategic Partnerships - Schneider Electric

Chris Russell, Director, Energy Engineering - EastPoint

Sandy MacInnis, Senior Electrical Engineer - EastPoint

Hassan Shahriar, President - ADAPTR

Roberto Bosco, National Solution Sales Manager, Canada - Armstrong Fluid Technology

Rob Brewer, President & CEO - PUC Services

Presentations include:

Robert Brewer: Canada’s first Community Wide Smart Grid System

Hassan Shahriar: A Tale of Two Inertias

Chris Russell, Sandy MacInnis & Channing McRae: Sable Island National Park Reserve: Advanced Microgrid Power Generation

Breakout Session K: Electrification and Grid-Integration of Small-Medium Sized Vessels,
presented by Rimot
8:30 AM to 9:30 AM

Location: Maritime Room

Join our expert panel as we discuss the overall potential impact on the region of various marine renewable technologies. We review local examples of marine renewable technologies – vessel-to-grid, tidal, offshore wind; deep dive on the techno-economic opportunities and challenges of vessel electrification and vessel-to-grid and finally present several reports and findings that are being made public.

Moderator: Wayne Groszko, Applied Energy Research Scientist - Nova Scotia Community College

Trevor Hennigar, COO - Rimot (BlueGrid)

Breakout Session L: Applications of Nuclear and the Drive Towards Net Zero

9:30 AM to 10:30 AM 

Location: Harbour Suites

In this session, join Michelle Robichaud, President of Atlantica Centre for Energy, and Rose Robinson, Director of Advanced Reactor Development at NB Power, for a chat as they discuss new nuclear development and take questions from attendees.

Nuclear has been an integral part of the energy supply in New Brunswick since the 1980s. The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is the province’s largest provider of carbon-free electricity, providing approximately 35 per cent of the province’s requirements and avoiding approximately 4 Mt of greenhouse gas from being emitted into the environment annually. As New Brunswick continues to work towards achieving a net-zero electricity system by 2035, it’s been making progress towards the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) – the next generation of nuclear technology. SMRs can help to maintain energy security, meet increasing demand, and continue to support climate action goals throughout the region and even for industry. Still, nuclear energy’s role in the move toward net-zero remains a topic that garners interest from government, utilities, and stakeholders alike.

Geneve Magnan, Nuclear Engineering Student - University of Michigan

Michelle Robichaud, President - Atlantica Centre for Energy

Rose Robinson, Director (Acting) - Énergie NB Power

Breakout Session M: The Missing "How to Get There" - Five Calls to Action to Meet Decarbonization Goals, presented by CBCL

9:30 AM to 10:30 AM

Location: Maritime Room

Atlantic Canada has ambitious goals for decarbonization, but how do we get there? This presentation explores 3 main themes critical to our success and proposes a set of 5 calls to action necessary to reach our goals. It ends with a hopeful vision of a potential path to a decarbonized future.

The most important theme of the presentation is the psychological power of choice, often described metaphorically through the “carrot and the stick”. The presenter proposes this critical element as the key to motivate and empower consumers to make choices to be part of the solution through incentivised action (and punished inaction), rather than coercion.

Call to Action 1: We need policy makers to incentivise all-electric commercial & multifamily residential buildings (including product and labor advertisements for where and how to do it, amortised tax incentives, rebates, etc...) The second theme of the presentation is the concept of the time value of energy. When we discuss net-zero buildings, we look at units of KW-hours without regard to when they are used, and unfortunately the “dirtiness”, or how carbon intensive, of the electric utility power supply varies by the minute. Therefore, a building’s energy profile in energy does not equal its carbon profile.

Call to Action 2: We need policy-makers & utilities to (a) educate and socialize consumers about the importance of WHEN loads draw current, (b) give them the tools (subsidize & advertise simple clock controls, offer text reminder services) to load shift to clean periods, and (c) provide incentive periods and punishment periods (use both the carrot and the stick). The third theme of the presentation is Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings. The presentation will define a GEB, or Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings, and why the GEB trifecta (Efficiency + renewables + Storage/DER/controls) is the key to the future electric utility grid.

Call to Action 3: We need building engineering consultants to be ready to design and offer GEB-ready building designs to clients.

Call to Action 4: We need utilities to share past annual carbon-mix data so that engineers can calculate the predicted carbon-use load profile of a building and design optimized energy-storage appropriately for that specific building.

Call to Action 5: Policy makers/municipalities and utilities must change the load and supply model. Utilities used to be "we provide energy - no matter how much; no matter when," but our future cannot sustain this model. It is critical that this evolve if we want our grid to survive. The population of consumer loads must become supply-following for our future energy goals to be realized.

The Presentation will end with a vision of the future where a percentage of buildings across a city with DER (Distributed Energy Resources) can act as and replace a power plant, reacting at moments notice when wind resources suddenly drop. Buildings will be built regardless. If we chose to answer these calls to action, we have the opportunity to put into place now, the necessary ”building” blocks to realize a decarbonized future grid.

Ariel Heintze, Electrical Engineer - CBCL

Breakout Session N: Moving people: Clean Transportation Options for Every Day Trips in Nova Scotia

10:30 AM to 11:30 AM

Location: Bedford Room

By 2030, transportation is poised to become the largest GHG emitting sector in Nova Scotia. As our province continues to grow, so too will the demand on our transportation networks. We need innovative solutions to help manage that demand and make it easier for people to get where they need to go using clean transportation. This panel will touch on how new and tried-and-true mobility options can work together to move people and enrich lives. Panelist will explore clean transportation options through an equity lens, by considering all types of trips we take in our everyday lives.

Eliza Jackson, Clean Transportation Analyst. Natural Resources and Renewables, Government of Nova Scotia

Kriti Yadav, Director, Operations and Strategy - Zen Energy

Laura White, Research Specialist - Nova Scotia Community College

Breakout Session O: Digital Home Energy Labelling Programs, presented by Climative

11:00 AM to 12:00 PM 

Location: Harbour Suites

Stories from ongoing home energy labeling programs from projects leading the country. Many lessons have been learned that will help shape how this digital approach is deployed across the country and how it will help accelerate net-zero retrofits. The December 16, 2021, Government of Canada mandate letter included a requirement for "EnerGuide labeling of homes at the time of sale" as part of a series of provisions to meet our net zero targets. This compelling but controversial statement has spurred rapid action from progressive governments and organizations who see this as a tremendous opportunity to engage their citizens in climate action.

Winston Morton, CEO - Climative.ai

Lauren McNutt, Managing Consultant - Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors

Glen Compton, Building Coordinator - PEI Office of Net Zero

Sara Mudge, Technical Lead - NB Power

Breakout Session P: Standardizing Renewable Energy Training Programs

11:00 AM to 12:00 PM 

Location: Maritime Room

Canada's transition towards a zero-carbon future demands a highly skilled workforce. This session will explore Electricity Human Resources Canada's initiative to pilot accreditation of Canadian training programs in renewable and clean energy industries. Following the presentation, panelists will explore solutions to standardize learning outcomes to help shape the future workforce.

Vilyen Pidgornyy, Special Projects Manager - Electricity Human Resources Canada

Mary MacLean, Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) and Workforce Development Coordinator - Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Andrew Lafford, Dean, School of Technology and Environment at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC)

Breakout Session Q: Net Zero Pitch Challenge - Powered by CRIN

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Location: Harbour Suites

The Net Zero Pitch Challenge is a popular popular session featuring very unique technologies. Smart Energy Event invites startups to mid-stage companies to showcase the latest net-zero technology to our industry delegates. These selected companies present their technologies in five minutes on main stage, and have the opportunity to host their own 15-minute session and present their technology to conference delegates in a breakout space. As well as the startup may provide a 5-minute video on the Smart Energy website. 

Apply TODAY! Visit the Pitch Challenge page for details.

Breakout Session R: Heat Pumps & Hybrid Heating Systems

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM 

Location: Maritime Room

Explore the future of heating at our Smart Energy Event session on Heat Pumps & Hybrid Heating Systems. Discover innovative solutions for sustainable living, learn about the latest in energy efficiency, and engage with experts on the forefront of reducing carbon footprints through smart, hybrid heating technology.

Jordan MacNeil, Director, Energy Transition - Eastward Energy: A Review of Pilot projects to Test Three Gas Absorption Heat Pumps for Single-family Homes and Multi-unit Residential Buildings

Roberto Bosco, National Solution Sales Manager, Canada - Armstrong Fluid Technology: Innovative Solutions for a New World of Smart Building Performance – The Path to Increased Energy Efficiency and Reduced GHG Emissions

Breakout Session S: Nova Scotia’s Community Solar Program

11:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Location: Bedford Room

Community Solar in Nova Scotia -The evolution of policy and program development. Join us to learn about the process of researching and identifying the key policy drivers for Nova Scotia's community solar program, balancing accessibility, equity, community, economic development and financial viability.

Julia Lindsay, A/Manager, Clean Electricity Community Solar Project Manager - Department of Natural Resources and Renewables