Community Energy Planning

Community governments and Indigenous governments in the NWT can apply on behalf of their entire community.

AEA can help in four key areas of the community energy planning process:

• Coordinating community engagement and gathering feedback to help develop the plan
• Providing funding to hire and mentor a local Community Energy Champion, and supporting local capacity building by mentoring community members and our community partner
• Writing the community energy plan
• Identifying projects or strategies from the CEP that can be initiated within the next year and sourcing potential funding to support this initiative

• Up to 200 hours of AEA staff time and two community visits to facilitate the community energy planning process.
• Up to $30,000 in funding to hire a local, part-time Community Energy Champion for up to 750 hours at a gross rate of $40/hour.
• Travel and accommodation costs, including per diems, for the local Community Energy Champion and a community partner representative (SAO/ED or designate) to attend an orientation workshop.
• Up to $1,500 for miscellaneous expenses such as catering, local advertising, incentives, etc.

Our approach to community energy planning is based on the following seven steps:

1. Launch Effort – Get Organized – Form a group of people who are interested in energy.
2. Create a Community Energy Profile – Create an overview of how energy is used in your community.
3. Engage with the Community – Gather input on what the vision, goals and potential projects could look like.
4. Evaluate Energy Opportunities – Evaluate potential projects and partnerships that could improve community energy management.
5. Write the Community Energy Plan – Assemble promising projects and partnerships into a plan for action.
6. Implement and Monitor the Plan – Complete projects listed in the plan and check to make sure that they are working properly.
7. Revise the Plan – Go back to Step 1 and repeat.

The toolkit can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.

• This program is open to community governments and Indigenous governments in the NWT.
• A community energy plan must encompass the entire community, not only the organization applying for funding.
• If your application is accepted, you must
  • provide AEA with a resolution from your community Council or Band Council, indicating Council’s support for the project
  • sign a partnership agreement with AEA
• The Community Energy Planning Program works on annual planning cycles. If your application is accepted, we will schedule you into the next available planning cycle and we will let you know when we can start working with you.
• Once the community energy planning process begins, your organization will be responsible for the following:
  • Hiring a local Community Energy Champion and invoicing AEA on a monthly or quarterly basis for their wages
  • Providing in-kind support (office space, computer, phone, internet, etc.)
  • Providing a suitable space to deliver workshops and meetings (in-kind)
  • Ensuring Council members participate in workshops delivered for Council
  • Reviewing and adopting the updated community energy plan by resolution or bylaw
• AEA will be responsible for the following:
  • Assisting with the hiring of a local Energy Champion
  • Facilitating the community energy planning process
  • Assisting the local Champion in developing the project workplan
  • Providing mentoring and support to the Energy Champion
  • Hosting and delivering the orientation workshop
  • Assisting with preparing and delivering community workshops and engagement
  • Preparing and presenting the updated community energy plan for feedback
  • Assisting with sourcing funding to implement projects identified in the community energy plan
• All applications are processed in the order they are received by AEA.
• The Executive Director of Arctic Energy Alliance reserves the right to make a final decision on all applications made to AEA.