Current Affairs

Electricity Canada presents the Women in Electricity Award

In collaboration with Women of Powerline Technicians (Women of PLT), Electricity Canada is launching a new award recognizing leaders within our member companies that are making a tangible difference in creating an environment that will help advance women in the electricity sector.

This award celebrates an individual or team from an Electricity Canada member company for advancing women in utility organizational structures, processes, and inclusionary outcomes that result in more women working in member companies across Canada.

The Canadian electricity sector, like many other economic sectors in Canada, is working diligently to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I). Electricity Canada has been recognizing the important work and dedication that our member companies have demonstrated over the years in creating, fostering, and advancing inclusive workforces. In December 2020, Electricity Canada released a Board-approved, industry-wide collective commitment to accelerating ED&I in the electricity industry and has been working closely with members on new initiatives, advancements, and recognizing the people who are paving the way.

Award nominations are open until February 28th 2023, and can be submitted as a self-nomination, by a colleague, or by another Electricity Canada member.

Criteria for Nominees:

• Open to all Electricity Canada members in good standing.
• Nominee has demonstrated clear leadership, commitment, and positive impact in advancing women in Canada’s electricity sector.
• Nominee has demonstrated a consistent track record of championing women in their organizations, leading to clear improvements regarding ED&I in their companies.
• The winner will be announced during Electricity Canada's 2023 Labour Relations Symposium.
  

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Rethink, Reimagine, and Renew: Our Energy Future – Electricity Canada’s Annual Powering Partnerships Summit

As a sector, we are facing climate targets that will not be met if we continue to rely on historical approaches and traditional solutions. In order to achieve a net zero electricity grid by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050, we will need to rethink and reimagine the future of electricity in Canada.

On November 23, 2022, Electricity Canada hosted our annual Powering Partnerships Summit, which brought together energy experts, innovators, and leaders to help us Rethink, Reimagine and Renew our energy future.

Monica Gattinger, Chair of Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa, Rob Lister, President and CEO of Oakville Enterprises Corporation and Andrea Roszell, Director at Guidehouse joined our first panel to share their insights and ideas on how business is changing to meet the demands of the future and what is required for us to ensure a net zero tomorrow.

We will also need to renew our relationships with Indigenous Communities, government, and leaders from across all sectors, to reach our goals and meet our timelines.

Jesse McCormick from the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, Tabatha Bull from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, Guy Lonechild from the First Nations Power Authority and Brian Schmidt from Tamarack Valley Energy, joined Manitoba Hydro's President and CEO Jay Grewal, to share what works and what doesn’t and talked about new approaches and recommendations. Renewing these relationships will help to improve our electricity systems today, while safeguarding the prosperity, health, and well-being of generations tomorrow.

The Summit concluded with a live recording of top Canadian political podcast, “The Herle Burly,” featuring discussions on electrification and decarbonization with Shawn McCarthy from Sussex Strategy, Jason Dion from the Canadian Climate Institute and Greg Lyle from Innovative Research Group. The conversation is available here.

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Electricity. For the Future.

Electricity plays an important role in getting Canada to net zero emissions and reducing the impacts of climate change.

With that in mind, Electricity Canada is happy to announce the launch of a new section on our website, dedicated to educating the public on the basics of net zero, and the role of electricity in the collective fight against climate change.

This new resource explains net zero in simple terms using a video, an infographic, a timeline of the past, present, and future of climate change legislation, a tour of our
members' (Canadian electricity companies) projects and more!

The release of our new website tab coincides with the launch of Electricity Canada’s Fall Net Zero advertising campaign. This consumer-focused campaign continues to build on the messaging that Electricity

Canada members are leading our country’s efforts to tackle climate change, with the new tagline: “Electricity. For the Future.”
Learn more at www.netzerofuture.ca

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"In an emergency, it's all hands on deck"

We expect the worst when hurricane season comes, but even then, the devastation caused by tropical storm Fiona far exceeded even those expectations. The storm hit the east coast with heavy rain and winds of over 170 km/h that left hundreds of thousands across the Atlantic provinces without power, $300 to $700 million worth of insured losses to the local economy, several injured, and a few dead. It has been also estimated that infrastructure restoration could take months.

Fiona also hit the electricity grid hard. At least 500,000 customers throughout the Altantic provinces had no power.

Since then, power has largely been restored to the majority of affected customers thanks, in part, to the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group (NAMAG). This group works to connect electricity providers needing help repairing their grid with neighboring utilities that can spare personnel and resources.

As of last week, Nova Scotia Power received assistance from electricity providers in Canada and the U.S. including:

Versant Power: a supervisor, 15 line workers and two mechanics from Bangor, Maine
Central Maine Power: Sixteen two-person crews along with 10 additional support personnel are heading north with 14 bucket trucks and two digger trucks
Hydro Ottawa: 15 power line technicians, a crew supervisor, safety partner, fleet mechanic, and 10 vehicles, including five bucket trucks and two radial boom derricks
“When an emergency occurs, it's all hands on deck,” said Electricity Canada President and CEO Francis Bradley in a recent interview with POLITICO. “It doesn't matter where you are, we send crews to wherever they're needed in those emergencies.”

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Electricity Canada submits feedback on Clean Electricity Regulations.

On August 22nd, Electricity Canada submitted feedback to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) – formerly called Clean Electricity Standard. Aside from their goal of a clean, affordable, and reliable grid, the Department released few details about the proposed regulation.

We do know that the rules will require some fossil-fueled electricity generating units to install carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) by 2035, or will otherwise shut down. Exactly how ECCC will define which units will be subject to those rules is still not clear.

Since the last comment period on the CER in April 2022, ECCC has indicated that it will exempt all non-grid connected generation – a recommendation submitted by Electricity Canada.

The Department has also indicated that it is aware of the need for natural gas generation for reliability purposes, and that the regulation will be focused on high-emitting use cases and would continue to allow for applications such as units with low utilization that help to respond to high demand periods.

With the draft regulations coming before the end of 2022, there is likely less than a month remaining before departmental staff begin their approval processes. The shortened time frame may lead to more significant changes between the publication of the draft regulations in Canada Gazette 1 this year, and the final regulations in Canada Gazette 2 sometime in 2023.

For more information, please contact Jay Wilson at wilson@electricity.ca

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Electricity Canada Celebrates National Lineworker Appreciation Day!

Every day, lineworkers across Canada work to keep electricity flowing into our homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses. They are the highly trained men and women who work on installing and maintaining the complex grid across cities, provinces, and territories.

Often faced with working in extreme conditions, lineworkers are trained to work efficiently, safely, and collaboratively to keep the lights on. And every year on July 10th, Electricity Canada and our membership celebrate National Lineworker Appreciation Day.

With electricity becoming more and more important on the road to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the work lineworkers do becomes even more important.

It is estimated that Canada will need to produce up to two to three times as much clean power as it does now to meet these goals. Lineworkers have always been on the front lines of every storm, wildfire, or pandemic, and work to maintain and repair the grid that powers essential services. And now, they will be on the front lines to help electricity become the primary energy source.

In recognition of National Lineworker Appreciation Day, Electricity Canada created a video in collaboration with Hydro Ottawa, featuring footage of the May 21st derecho, resulting in over 350,000 outages across Ontario and Quebec.

WATCH NOW!

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