Strategic Energy Management for Industry (SEMI)

Status first: SEMI is closed to new applications and waitlist only

Read this before you plan a budget around SEMI. Emissions Reduction Alberta has closed the Strategic Energy Management for Industry program to new applications across every activity stream. The official program page carries the notice "UPDATE: WAITLISTS OPEN FOR ALL ACTIVITIES" and states, "Please note that funding is limited and not guaranteed."

The program has not been cancelled. ERA states, "The SEMI program will continue until March 31, 2027, or until funding is fully allocated." Facilities that already signed terms and conditions are still drawing funding and still delivering projects. What no longer exists is an open application you can submit and expect to be assessed on its merits.

ERA asks interested facilities to register their interest through the SEMI Portal at portal.semiprogram.ca. Its waitlist notice says, "Please visit the SEMI Portal to express your interest in the waitlist. We will contact you if additional funding becomes available." That is the whole mechanism.

Be clear about the limits. ERA does not publish a queue position, a reopening date, or any estimate of how much waitlisted demand it expects to fund. ERA is explicit that process steps do not create entitlement: "registering or completing an FRA, SEM, EMIS, or EAA activity does not guarantee you funding for your Capital Retrofits projects. Your Capital Retrofits funding is not reserved until the Capital Retrofits Terms and Conditions are signed by ERA." On the fixed intake, ERA adds that "Submitting a Capital Retrofits application before the deadline does not guarantee funding."

There is also a hard calendar problem behind the waitlist. Capital retrofits had to be implemented and installed before March 31, 2027, and March 31, 2027 is also ERA's stated deadline to complete your project and submit eligible expenses. Even if funding freed up tomorrow, a large retrofit would need to be engineered, procured, installed, and invoiced inside a shrinking window. Treat SEMI today as something to be positioned for, not something to be counted on.

ERA attributes every closure to high demand. It does not publish how much of the $70 million remains unallocated, so treat any assumption about remaining budget as unknown. Here is when each stream closed, in ERA's own words:

• Strategic Energy Management (SEM): "the SEM activity is now accepting applications on a waitlist. The SEM activity closed to new applications on September 22, 2025."
• Energy Assessments and Audits (EAA): "the EAA activity is now accepting applications on a waitlist. The EAA activity closed to new applications on November 6, 2025."
• Capital Retrofits: "Due to high demand, Capital Retrofits applications submitted after March 2, 2026, will be placed on a waitlist."
• Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS): "the EMIS activity is now accepting applications on a waitlist. The EMIS activity closed to new applications on March 31, 2026."

What SEMI funded: one gateway assessment and four activity streams

SEMI was built as a staircase rather than a single grant. ERA states, "All participants are required to first undergo a Facility Readiness Assessment (FRA) to help identify and recommend further eligible SEMI activities." Every participant started with that gateway step, then chose which of the four activities to pursue.

Facility Readiness Assessment (FRA). Mandatory for all proponents and the first thing you do. The FRA is a facility-wide assessment of how, where, and when energy is used in the production process. It assesses and analyzes all energy uses and energy management systems, identifies immediate opportunities for improvement, and defines which SEMI activities make sense next. ERA's service provider Enerva Energy Solutions Inc. conducts it. For-profit organizations must cover 50% of the cost, and ERA anticipates that contribution can be provided as an in-kind contribution, for example facility staff time. ERA does not publish a fixed FRA price: it states that "The duration and cost of the FRA will depend on several variables, including the size and complexity of your facility." Not all FRA recommendations are mandatory to implement.

Energy Assessments and Audits (EAA). Detailed engineering studies that go deeper than the FRA. These include a Comprehensive Energy Assessment covering the whole facility, plus Computational Fluid Dynamics Studies and Process Integration Studies for complex sites. The EAA must be conducted by an Eligible Contractor or by the facility's internal resources under a Professional Engineer's supervision and approval. The engineering proposal must include an uncertainty analysis that describes any uncertainty in the ability to realize the estimated outcomes.

Strategic Energy Management (SEM). ERA describes it as a one-year training program delivered through a group training structure facilitated by a qualified energy practitioner, covering training, coaching, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and technical support. Participation obligations are specific: appoint an executive sponsor to engage the executive team and coach the energy manager, register an employee as the facility energy manager to actively participate, and maintain an "Attendance record of 80% to the workshops and virtual sessions".

Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS). Support to "implement recognized energy management systems (EnMS), including ISO 50001-compliant and ISO 50001-certified systems". ERA states that "Eligible systems must provide energy data to all levels of the organization", must "have top management's commitment", and that the facility must "designate an energy manager". EMIS had to be implemented before March 31, 2027, and ERA requires participants to "Log, maintain, and submit the EMIS data and information until March 31, 2031."

Capital Retrofits. The money stream. ERA's eligible technology categories include General Purpose LED Lighting, Renewable Energy Integration, Advanced Refrigeration Systems, High-Efficiency Pumping Systems, Water Conservation and Wastewater Treatment Systems Optimization, High-Efficiency Motors and Variable Frequency Drives, Fan and Ventilation System Optimization, Compressed Air System Efficiency Improvements, Electrification of the Production Process, Waste Heat Recovery and Reuse Systems, Smart Manufacturing and Automation Technologies, Materials Handling and Process Efficiency Improvements, Building Envelope Upgrades, and HVAC Systems Retrofits including heat pumps.

Funding maximums, cost-share, and the caps that actually bind

SEMI is a $70 million program. The Government of Alberta committed up to $20 million through the TIER fund and Natural Resources Canada has provided $50 million.

The headline cost-share is straightforward: SEMI "offers financial incentives that cover up to 50% of eligible project costs for for-profit organizations and up to 100% for not-for-profits and Indigenous organizations." Across the FRA, EAA, EMIS, SEM training, and Capital Retrofits, ERA states that in-kind contributions are included, up to 50% for for-profit facilities, which meaningfully softens the cash requirement on the study and training streams.

Maximum incentives per facility:

• Energy Assessments and Audits: up to $50,000 for each facility, paid by electronic funds transfer after ERA's service provider reviews the final report and your invoices. ERA states that if your payment details match your void cheque, "payment will be processed within four weeks."
• Strategic Energy Management: up to $100,000 worth of training per facility.
• Energy Management Information Systems: up to $50,000 for facilities consuming under 400,000 GJ annually, or up to $250,000 for facilities consuming more than 400,000 GJ annually.
• Capital Retrofits: up to $1,000,000, alongside a $1 million maximum funding cap per parent company. If you operate several Alberta sites under one corporate parent, that parent-level cap is usually the binding constraint, not the per-facility number.
• Solar PV: "Microgeneration only (up to 2MW)". Incentives are set at $0.65 per watt for small systems under 15kW and $0.50 per watt for larger systems from 15kW to 2MW, subject to a maximum of 20% of total costs and $250,000 per project. ERA states available solar PV incentives are "capped at $8M".
• General purpose LED lighting: fixtures must be ENERGY STAR or DLC certified. ERA states "LED lamps of any kind are not eligible" and "Replacing a lamp and ballast separately are not eligible". Subject to a maximum of 20% of total costs and $250,000 per project, with available General Purpose LED Lighting incentives "capped at $8M".

Which Alberta facilities qualified

SEMI is an Alberta program. There is no equivalent stream for facilities in other provinces, and Impact Applications does not represent SEMI as available outside Alberta.

To be an eligible participant you had to operate a business, as a corporation, non-profit, co-operative, sole proprietorship, partnership, government or public entity, or Indigenous-owned organization, by owning or leasing at least one eligible facility, and you had to not be insolvent. To be considered Indigenous-owned, ERA requires an organization in which "Indigenous peoples own and control at least 51% of the enterprise."

To be an eligible facility, all of the following had to be true:

• The facility is located in Alberta.
• The facility has been in operation for at least one year with fixed equipment and energy consumption information. A site that just came online does not qualify, because there is no operating baseline to measure against.
• You own or lease the facility. For a leased facility you must have obtained permission from your landlord to undertake the key activities.
• The facility belongs to one of these NAICS sectors: 11 agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; 21 mining, oil and gas; 22 utilities; 23 construction; 31-33 manufacturing; 48 transportation; or 56, where ERA lists only waste collection, waste treatment and disposal, and remediation and other waste management services.
• For Capital Retrofits specifically: emitting technologies and new construction are ineligible, the retrofit must lead to at least a 5% improvement in energy efficiency and GHG reductions compared to the baseline scenario, and the payback period must be greater than one year.

How the process worked, and why the Capital Retrofits intake changed

Understanding how ERA ran the last intake tells you what a reopened intake would most likely look like.

Capital Retrofits originally operated first-come, first-served. ERA changed that. In ERA's words, "Capital Retrofits applications received and approved (i.e., Capital Retrofits Terms and Conditions signed by ERA) before January 6 at 4 p.m. MST will be processed following the first-come, first-served model." From January 7 to March 2, 2026 ERA ran a fixed intake with a submission deadline of March 2, 2026 at 4 p.m. MST, evaluated applications between March 3 and March 31, 2026, and communicated decisions by March 31, 2026. ERA stated that "Funding will be awarded to the highest-ranked applications until the available budget for the Capital Retrofits activity is fully allocated."

The document load is real. An EAA application alone required the facility's utility bills for the last 12 months plus an engineering proposal covering scope, systems studied, data collection and baseline methodology, engineering calculations, estimated electrical and thermal savings with GHG reductions and associated project costs, consideration of uncertainties in the analysis, itemized costs for in-kind contributions, a schedule with milestones, and resumes for the personnel involved. ERA's service provider then reviewed the reasonableness of the scope, the savings estimate, the costs, and the recommendations before the incentive was confirmed. Your Eligible Contractor could submit most of this on your behalf.

ERA published its Capital Retrofits evaluation criteria in order of importance, and this is the most useful piece of intelligence on the whole program:

• Abatement cost, weighted highest. ERA defines it as "Abatement Cost ($/tCO2e) = Amount of ERA funding requested/Tonnes of lifetime GHG reductions". Lower cost per tonne scores better. Asking for the maximum on a project with modest lifetime reductions is how strong-looking applications lose.
• Parent Company Funding Cap, a $1 million maximum applied to keep funding distributed across companies.
• Diversity of Technologies Supported: "Technologies that have received less funding to date will be prioritized. This is to ensure a broad range of technologies receive support."
• Application Quality: "Applications will be evaluated based on the quality of the supporting documentation submitted."
• Fairness Assessment for Indigenous and Not-for-Profit Applicants: "To support equity and fairness, Indigenous and not-for-profit applicants will be scored separately from for-profit applicants."

Stacking SEMI with other funding, including SR&ED and the Investment Tax Credits

ERA permits other government funding, with two caps that catch people out.

The first is the total government funding cap. ERA states: "The maximum level of total government funding (i.e., federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal) must not exceed 75% of total project costs except in the case where the eligible recipient is a provincial, territorial, and municipal government or their departments and agencies or a registered not-for-profit organization or an Indigenous recipient, in which case the total Canadian government funding authorized will not exceed 100% of total project costs."

The second is easy to miss and expensive. ERA confirms: "the Government of Canada's Investment Tax Credits are considered federal funding and are included in the 75% cap on government funding in SEMI." If you plan to claim a federal Investment Tax Credit on the same equipment, it consumes the same 75% headroom that SEMI does. Model the two together before you commit, not after.

ERA also limits stacking within its own federal funding source: "Stacking of GIFMP funding sources is limited to 50% of project costs." ERA does not spell out the acronym on its FAQ page, but its launch announcement identifies the federal money behind SEMI as coming from Natural Resources Canada's Green Industrial Facilities and Manufacturing Program.

On SR&ED, the honest answer has two parts. SEMI money is government assistance. Under the Canada Revenue Agency's SR&ED rules, government assistance that can reasonably be considered to be in respect of SR&ED reduces your qualified SR&ED expenditures for investment tax credit purposes, under subsection 127(18) of the Income Tax Act. That is the general rule and it is not negotiable.

In practice, though, the overlap is usually narrow. Energy audits, ISO 50001 system implementation, LED replacement, and off-the-shelf efficiency equipment are ordinarily not experimental development, so they were never in an SR&ED claim to begin with. The risk appears in one specific place: when the same engineering hours or the same equipment cost show up in both files. The working rule is simple. Never let a single dollar of cost carry both a SEMI incentive and an SR&ED claim without your tax adviser confirming the treatment, and keep the cost segregation documented from day one rather than reconstructing it at year end.

Why SEMI applications failed

Every reason below traces to a published ERA requirement or evaluation criterion, not to guesswork. They apply to a reopened intake as much as they applied to the last one.

Losing on abatement cost. This was the top-weighted criterion, and ERA measures it as funding requested divided by lifetime tonnes of GHG reductions. A large incentive request attached to modest lifetime reductions scores badly against a smaller request attached to deep reductions. Right-sizing the ask is a strategy decision, not a form-filling decision.

A weak or undefended baseline. ERA's service provider reviews the baseline methodology and the reasonableness of the savings estimate. Twelve months of utility bills were required. Facilities with metering gaps, recent process changes, or unusual production years struggled to substantiate savings.

Missing the technical gates. Emitting technologies were ineligible, retrofits had to deliver at least a 5% improvement in energy efficiency and GHG reductions against the baseline scenario, and payback had to exceed one year. That payback floor is deliberate: a project that pays back in under a year is expected to proceed without public money.

Presenting new capacity as a retrofit. New construction is ineligible, and it is stated repeatedly across ERA's technology lists.

Hitting the parent company cap. Multi-site operators who submitted several site applications ran into the $1 million maximum funding cap per parent company rather than a per-facility limit.

Omitting the uncertainty analysis. ERA requires the EAA engineering proposal to include an uncertainty analysis describing any uncertainty in the ability to realize the estimated outcomes. It is a specific, checkable requirement that generic study proposals leave out.

Assuming process steps reserved funding. Completing an FRA, or submitting before the deadline, reserved nothing. Only ERA signing the Capital Retrofits Terms and Conditions did.

Basic eligibility misses. A facility under one year of operation, missing fixed equipment or energy consumption data, a leased site without documented landlord permission, or a NAICS 56 applicant outside the waste collection, waste treatment and disposal, and remediation sub-sectors ERA lists.

What to do now if you missed the SEMI intake

Impact Applications secured $1,000,000 under this program for a client, matching the published Capital Retrofits maximum. That result came from getting the technical case, the abatement cost story, and the documentation right, and from moving before the funding ran out. The lesson worth carrying forward is timing: the first SEMI stream closed to new applications roughly eleven months after the program opened in October 2024, long before the March 31, 2027 program end date.

First, register your interest through the SEMI Portal anyway. It costs you a form, and ERA has committed to contacting you if additional funding becomes available. You can confirm what your specific stream requires with ERA directly at semi@eralberta.ca or 1-844-407-0025.

Second, do the engineering work now, not later. The audit, the baseline, the metering, and the savings model are the long-lead items in any industrial efficiency application, and they retain value regardless of which program eventually funds the retrofit. A facility with a defensible baseline and a costed measure list can move on days of notice. A facility without one cannot, no matter how good the opportunity.

Third, look at what else ERA runs. Its Methane Reduction Deployment Program is listed as continuous intake funding covering up to 50% of eligible project costs to a maximum of $2 million per parent company, continuing until March 31, 2029 or until funding is fully allocated. It is narrower than SEMI: it is limited to Alberta upstream and midstream oil and gas facility owners and operators, facilities regulated under the TIER Regulation are ineligible unless part of an aggregated facility, and Large Final Emitters and opt-in facilities are ineligible. ERA does not state on that page whether it is accepting submissions today, so confirm current status before you build a plan around it. ERA also runs an annual Industrial Transformation Challenge for demonstration projects, offering up to $10 million per project against a $500,000 minimum request and a maximum ERA contribution of 50 per cent of eligible expenses, but its 2026 intake deadline of June 17, 2026 at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time has passed. These are different programs with different gates, and we will tell you plainly if your facility does not fit one.

We monitor ERA program status continuously and will flag a SEMI reopening, a funding top-up, or a successor program the day it is published. If you want to be positioned rather than notified, the conversation to have now is about the engineering package, not the application form.