NorthX and BC Hydro launch $5M funding opportunity to unlock more flexibility in BC's electricity system

New funding will help Canadian companies bring technologies to market that can manage electricity demand and support BC's growing energy needs

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 22, 2026 /CNW/ -- As electricity demand grows across British Columbia, new approaches to managing when, where, and how electricity is used will be increasingly important. NorthX Climate Tech (NorthX) and BC Hydro are partnering to identify and advance solutions that can provide greater flexibility to the electricity system, with $5M in non-dilutive funding available to Canadian companies developing technologies that can help meet this need.

Through the Call for Innovation: Capacity & Energy Solutions, NorthX will invest in companies developing solutions that can shift, shed, store, or manage electricity demand. The program will prioritize behind-the-meter solutions that can be deployed at industrial sites, buildings, fleets and other locations, helping accelerate the adoption of flexible demand technologies as BC's electricity system expands.

The initiative supports BC Hydro's broader efforts to manage growing electricity demand and advance its Power Smart 2.0 and Powering Growth plans, including targets of 2,200 GWh in energy savings and 800 MW in capacity savings.

"We need to make the most of the electricity system we have while we build for the demand ahead," said Sarah Goodman, CEO of NorthX Climate Tech. "Canada has the talent and technologies to address these challenges, but getting from a promising technology to commercial deployment takes more than capital. It takes opportunities to test, validate and build with real market partners. This funding brings those pieces together, helping Canadian companies prove their solutions in the real world, build commercial traction, and scale from here."

BC's elecricity demand is growing as industry expands and more transportation, buildings, and industrial processes shift to electricity. Meeting that growth will require new infrastructure and supply, but it will also require new ways to manage when, where, and how electricity is used.

"Innovation and demand flexibility are essential as we power BC's growing economy and meet the increasing demand for electricity," said Charlotte Mitha, President and CEO of BC Hydro. "Through this partnership with NorthX, we're supporting Canadian innovators developing technologies that can help customers save money, shift electricity use to when it's needed most and unlock more capacity from the system we have today. By helping bring these solutions from demonstration to deployment, we're creating benefits for customers, supporting economic growth and building a more flexible, resilient electricity grid for the future."

The program will prioritize:

• Demand response and flexible loads, including technologies that can shift or manage industrial processes
• Energy storage and dispatchable resources
• Distributed energy resources and virtual power plants
• Managed and bidirectional charging, including vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-everything applications
• Energy efficiency solutions that also enable greater flexibility
• Power electronics, sensing and integrated energy systems that enable more responsive electricity use

Projects can include demonstrations, pilots, field validation and utility integration testing that help move technologies toward commercial deployment.

For BC, these technologies can help customers manage electricity use while giving the broader system more flexibility and capacity, supporting industrial growth and creating opportunities for Canadian technologies to be deployed in BC and beyond.

The Call for Innovation: Capacity & Energy Solutions brings together NorthX's experience investing in and helping commercialize climate hard tech with BC Hydro's expertise in the electricity system and its priorities for managing growing demand.

Beyond capital, this program creates an opportunity to pilot much-needed innovation and reduce the timeline from innovation to deployment at scale. By bringing innovators closer to a major potential utility customer, the program can help companies test and validate their technologies in real-world conditions, while giving BC Hydro greater access to emerging solutions that could help address the province's growing capacity and demand challenges. Selected companies may have opportunities to explore pilot projects or other early innovation activities with BC Hydro.

"Meeting BC's growing electricity demand requires new solutions and technologies that will help in maximizing the efficiency and reliability of our grid," said Adrian Dix, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions. "NorthX and BC Hydro's new funding stream will advance homegrown innovations that will support people and businesses in managing their electricity use while supporting a flexible and resilient energy system."

"This partnership is exactly the kind of collaboration between governments, utilities and Canadian innovators that will help us meet BC's growing energy demand," said The Honourable Tim Hodgson Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. "This is how we build a made-in-Canada supply chain for the technologies the whole country needs."

Key details:

• Funding: Up to $5 million in non-dilutive funding, with individual investments typically ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million. Projects can receive up to 50% of eligible costs.
• Eligibility: Canadian-incorporated companies with technologies at TRL 4–9, a clear path to commercialization, and meaningful emissions and/or electricity-system benefits.
• BC benefit: Priority will be given to projects that can be demonstrated in BC and deliver benefits such as reducing or shifting electricity demand, increasing system capacity and flexibility, supporting industrial growth, improving energy affordability and reliability, or strengthening BC's clean technology supply chain.
• Application deadline: The first application window closes October 30, 2026, with funding decisions expected by end of January 2027. Applications received after the first deadline may be considered in Q1 2027, subject to available funding.

NorthX impact at a glance:

• $61.9M in non-dilutive funding committed
• $331M in project value supported 
• 80 companies supported 
• 977 jobs created 
• $716M in investment catalyzed  

Learn more about the Call for Innovation: Capacity & Energy Storage.

About NorthX Climate Tech:
Founded in 2021 with initial investment from the BC Government, the Government of Canada, through Natural Resources Canada's Energy Innovation Program, and Shell Canada, NorthX Climate Tech (NorthX) is a catalyst for climate action, funding the climate hard tech solutions that transform industries and build lasting prosperity.

Rooted in British Columbia but global in vision, NorthX unites innovators, investors, industry, government, and partners to scale technologies that drive deep decarbonization and economic growth for Canada. Like the "X" on a map, NorthX identifies the pivotal moment when potential is immense, but capital is scarce; that place where local strengths become global solutions.

SOURCE NorthX Climate Tech

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