OTTAWA – Hydro Ottawa is celebrating its 11th win as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers. This selection is in recognition of the company’s ongoing leadership and commitment to the environment and helping its customers and the nation’s capital achieve their sustainability goals.
Hydro Ottawa believes it has a fundamental responsibility to be a leading partner in a smart energy future and to help build a vibrant and sustainable capital. That belief extends to its own operations, and its impact on the environment, as well as to the communities in which its customers live and work.
This is exemplified in Hydro Ottawa’s partnership with the City of Ottawa on its electric vehicle and public transit charging infrastructure projects, as well as the City’s Energy Evolution initiative designed to advance energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy generation; its commitment to bring additional clean, renewable power to Ontario through a 40-year purchase power agreement from its two newly refurbished hydroelectric facilities in Quebec; and its collaboration with Zibi Canada and Kruger Products to introduce zero-carbon thermal district energy to the 34-acre downtown waterfront site, making the Zibi development project the region’s first zero-carbon-emission community.
At the end of 2021, Hydro Ottawa announced the company would be taking its commitment to sustainability one step further by accelerating its transition to net-zero operations by 2030; a first for any municipally-owned utility company in Canada.
Quick Facts
- In December 2021, Hydro Ottawa achieved the distinguished Sustainable Electricity Company designation from Electricity Canada (formerly the Canadian Electricity Association), making Hydro Ottawa the 11th Electricity Canada utility company in Canada and the third in Ontario to successfully achieve this designation.
- In November 2021, Hydro Ottawa announced its commitment to support the City of Ottawa’s fleet of electric buses by providing safe and reliable electricity, while Envari will install and maintain the charging infrastructure at OC Transpo’s St. Laurent garage.
- Portage Power is Ontario’s largest municipally-owned producer of green power, with hydroelectric, solar and landfill gas-to-energy facilities generating enough renewable electricity to power 107,000 homes annually.
- In 2019, Hydro Ottawa moved into two new operations centres and a new main office, all designed and built to LEED Gold standards (a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement for green buildings).
- Solar energy generation at Hydro Ottawa’s new facilities offsets approximately 18 per cent of the energy demand at its East Campus and 100 per cent at its South Campus.
- Hydro Ottawa consistently diverts more than 90 per cent of its waste from landfill.
- Now offered in a virtual format, Hydro Ottawa’s education program, in partnership with Electricity Safety and Conservation and Relay Education, builds awareness and a culture of conservation and sustainability among elementary-aged children; the program has educated just over 307,000 local students since its inception.
- Hydro Ottawa is a catalyst member of EnviroCentre and Carbon613, a growing network of organizations that are setting and achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets in Ottawa.
- The City of Ottawa is looking to Envari to upgrade the systems at one of its wastewater treatment plants. Replacing the plant’s three cogeneration engines, and adding a fourth, will eliminate 1,565 tonnes of CO2 per year and reduce utility costs by $80M over 25 years.
Quotes
“With every decision that we make, Hydro Ottawa weighs the positive impact it must have on the environment, our community and our customers. We are dedicated to being an instrument of change that not only provides safe and reliable power to the nation’s capital, but also helps our city and its residents accelerate and achieve their own sustainability goals through bold initiatives, innovation and environmental partnerships.”
- Bryce Conrad, President and Chief Executive Officer
Media Contact
Josée Larocque
Manager, Media and Public Affairs
Hydro Ottawa
Tel: 613-738-5499 ext. 2345