Canada proposes longer clean investment tax credits and transmission expansion

Availability would run to 2040

The refundable Clean Electricity investment tax credit is up to 15% of eligible capital cost, while the refundable Clean Technology credit is up to 30%. Budget 2026 would extend both to eligible property becoming available for use before 2041 rather than before 2035. The Clean Technology rate would still fall to 15% in its final year, which would become 2040 instead of 2034. Claimants must meet prevailing-wage and apprenticeship requirements to obtain the full rates.^[1]

High-voltage intra-provincial lines enter scope

The Clean Electricity proposal would add intra-provincial transmission property built to operate at or above the highest voltage used for transmission in each province, subject to listed thresholds. These range from 735 kilovolts in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador and 500 kilovolts in Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta, to 69 kilovolts in the three territories. The annex also specifies 345 kilovolts for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 230 for Saskatchewan and 138 for Prince Edward Island.^[1]

Property boundaries still matter

Potentially eligible assets include specified transmission-line and substation equipment such as cables, towers, lattices and transformers. Buildings, electricity-distribution equipment and certain property used for international transmission are excluded. Finance says further details on qualifying intra-provincial transmission property will follow, so the Budget announcement does not complete every asset-level eligibility test.^[1]

Acquisition date is the first screen

The proposal would apply to property acquired on or after Budget Day, 5 November 2026. It is not enacted law, and the annex records the measures as proposals accompanied by Notices of Ways and Means Motions. Businesses planning Canadian generation, storage or transmission investment should map acquisition and available-for-use dates, asset classification, voltage and labour compliance while retaining a current-law model until legislation is enacted.^[1][2]

The reviewed sources do not announce a new claim form or filing deadline. The existing claim process, final statutory wording and promised transmission-property detail remain separate implementation work and should not be inferred from the Budget proposal.^[1]