The connection between clean energy supply and a thriving local economy received a boost earlier this month when Mayor Mark Sutcliffe delivered his opening remarks to the Ottawa Board of Trade’s Ottawa Energy Symposium.
“The demand on the system has grown exponentially,” Sutcliffe told participants in the morning event, hosted by the Ottawa Board of Trade. Households are using more electricity, while the City is bringing on electric buses and gradually converting the rest of its fleet to electric vehicles.
As a result, “Hydro Ottawa used to build a new substation once every five to seven years, and now they’re on the verge of building one every single year to keep up with demand,” the Mayor said. And yet, “we get up every morning, flick on the lights, and it works,” a feat that takes “amazing work behind the scenes to make sure it happens.”
Growing Green to Meet Demand
In the months and years ahead, it will be “critically, critically important” to be ready for continuing growth in demand, Sutcliffe said. “We don’t want our innovation limited or our economic progress halted, in our technology sector in particular, because we don’t have the energy capacity.”
Sutcliffe put reliable, local energy supply at the centre of Ottawa’s position as a world-class city that can “attract and retain the best” in high tech. That will mean attracting and retaining cutting-edge enterprises, but “they’re not going to come here and they’re not going to stay here if we don’t invest in the energy they need to optimize their productivity.”
Thinking Canada, Acting Community
That makes it critically important for the City to support technologies like Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) “to ensure that our grid is reliable, clean, and equipped to support our technology sector,” as Sutcliffe described.
The Mayor’s remarks pointed to an essential piece of the puzzle as Canadians confront a moment of crisis and opportunity. Federal and provincial governments are laser focused on protecting Canada’s sovereignty by positioning the country as an energy superpower. And there is no better, quicker, or more affordable way to deliver on that promise than with local projects that supply clean power, maximize energy efficiency, employ local workers, and meet the community’s energy needs from the ground up.
That’s why OCAF is working with Hydro Ottawa and the Kanata North Business Association toward establishing a green energy resilience district at the Kanata North Tech Park, while building up a wider inventory of low-carbon investment opportunities. We’re on a mission to entrench this kind of project as the default option to boost local resilience and self-reliance, building on Canada’s true strengths to make our country a safe, prosperous energy superpower that everyone can be proud of.