In the US, renewables and natural gas have entered into an uneasy alliance, each benefiting from the other in some sense, for now – and standing firmly side by side against proposals like Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s push to subsidise nuclear and coal-fired power.

In Canada, the divorce between gas and renewables is coming much sooner.

The release last week of Ontario’s latest long-term energy plan underscores the reality that there simply isn’t much turf available for the renewables and gas sectors to carve up between them in Canada, given the country's immense hydroelectric resource and the success it’s already had in shutting coal plants.