The past year has been a terribly exciting time for the BC Sustainable Energy Association.  The Annual General Meeting of 2023 marked the rollout of the new strategic plan that the Board of Directors had developed.  Thus began a period of planned growth and expansion.  With that also came the renewal or continuation of programs that BCSEA has become known for as well as the initiation of some new ones.

The Board worked hard this past year to get several internal projects aligned or completed.  Possibly the most significant of those completed was the upgrade to our e-commerce system.  The completion of this project allows for more flexibility in how we manage our commerce and revenue and provides a more seamless user experience for our members and donors.  

Our increased presence at in-person events combined with a renewed push for membership and completion of our e-commerce portal project resulted in an increase of 16% in individual memberships.  Over the same period, we have enjoyed an increase in business memberships of 288%.

In an effort to encourage greater stability at the Board level, we embarked on a journey to identify skills necessary for an organization such as ours and develop a plan to acquire skills that might be under-represented or missing.  This long-term planning approach to Board development resulted in a greater interest in Board positions this year than we have had in the past 8 years. 

2024 marked BCSEA’s return to in-person events.  First out of the gate this fall was the Everything Electric event where we staffed an information booth and had one of our Board Members (Brian Douglas) participate in the panel discussion on “Why are Wind, Solar, and Storage likely to be the big needle movers?”  We even held a small gathering to help celebrate our 20th Anniversary and had cake!

This was followed in short order by the Energy Connections event which was held in person for the first time since 2019.  It was wonderful to see this event up and running again and we look forward to even greater success with it in 2025.  Finally, we continued with the Women in Sustainable Energy (WiSE) event this year.  This vital mentoring and networking event had a great turnout once again and we hope to further increase its attendance in 2025.

BCSEA provides several presentations each year to organizations, educational institutions, and more. We were excited to be invited to provide one such presentation to the Chilliwack Rotary Club where Diana Sollner, Board Director presented “I Bought An EV, Now What?” to highlight what individuals can do to accelerate the green energy transition. She will be presenting on the same topic to the Chilliwack Fraser Valley Rotary Club on Jan 29, 2025. 

As part of our plan to increase our visibility and presence Provincewide, the Board engaged with a group of like-minded individuals in Prince George.  Following months of discussion, your Board of Directors is thrilled to announce the creation of the new Prince George Chapter of the BCSEA.  For the first time, we have a presence in the north of the Province, and we are excited to be able to bring their northern perspective to our initiatives.

In September of 2024, BCSEA published the inaugural issue of the BCSEA magazine.  Moving forward, this publication will form another building block in the foundation of our public engagement platform allowing us to reach a broader community. 

Our Cool-it program continues to enjoy tremendous success in both the elementary and high school systems.  We worked with 251 elementary classes and 96 high school classes during the 2023/24 school year.  This represents program growth of 26% affirming the increasing appetite for education on sustainable energy topics.  Primarily due to resource constraints, our planned rollout of the adult-oriented “Community Cool-it” was put on hold this past year.  In the coming year, your Board will continue to look for ways to make that program a reality.

While the BCUC has been cutting back on interveners’ roles in regulatory proceedings, our regulatory advocacy team has still been busy this past year. They filed 18 written arguments and letters of comment and participated in 20 stakeholder engagement sessions with regulated utilities. They published 17 articles on the BCSEA website detailing the team’s activities and views and conducted a webinar on BCSEA’s 20 Years at the BCUC. BCSEA’s participation in the BCUC process continues to be a vital role, allowing us to provide input into the way utilities are regulated in British Columbia.  We will continue to participate in this key process that helps hold our utilities and the BCUC accountable to the people of British Columbia throughout the coming year.

Our public engagement platforms continued strongly this past year.  Nine monthly newsletters were sent to over 3500 subscribers highlighting our continually expanding reach.  This past year we held 6 webinars on topics as diverse as energy efficiency in schools and tidal energy generation.  This year we reached a milestone of over 4000 Facebook followers, a number that we hope to continue to build upon this coming year.  We participated in or organized 9 in-person events and the Board, the Chapters, and volunteers of the BCSEA combined to participate in over 50 events this past year providing exposure to the BCSEA mandate and promoting pathways to a sustainable energy future.

Board Update

This year we will unfortunately say goodbye to several of our Board members.  John Calimente (Vice Chair), Paul Rasmussen (Director), and Katerin Osorio-Vera (Director) have chosen to step down from the Board this year.  Here are some of their accomplishments.  John was responsible for our participation at the Everything Electric show this past year.  Katerin led a team of volunteers who worked tirelessly to carry out the Women in Sustainable Energy (WiSE) networking event. Paul, who has the distinction of being the longest-serving Board member of BCSEA, has been front and centre in development of our website and e-commerce portal as well as many other initiatives over the past two decades and remains a Co-chair of the Victoria Chapter.  

We wish our outgoing Board Members all the best in their future endeavours and sincerely thank them for their dedication to the BCSEA and for their contribution to creating a more sustainable future for all British Columbians.

At the same time, the Board welcomes five new Board Directors: Paul Tiefensee, Eric Smiley, Jonathan Garcia, Sean Palfenier, and Joshua Mann.  We look forward to the energy and input these new faces will bring to our organization and are excited about what we can accomplish together.

Events

We will soon begin planning for the WiSE and Energy Connections events for 2025.  Stay tuned for dates and locations of these events

Have you registered for our January 16 Free Webinar where Joanne McKenna will present on BC Hydro’s ESG Journey.  Find more information and registration below in this newsletter.’  Stay tuned for more webinars in our 2025 Free Webinar Series!

We encourage anyone who has not renewed their membership to please consider doing so and anyone who is not a past member to please consider becoming one.  It is only through memberships and donations that BSEA is able to continue our important work in education, regulatory advocacy, and public awareness.

After a year of tremendous growth in 2024, your Board is looking forward to an exciting 2025 with many new and exciting challenges ahead of us.

Wishing everyone the best of the holiday season.

Alan Humber

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the British Columbia Sustainable Energy Association.