Sustainability milestones

Partnered with Zibi Canada and Kruger Products in October 2020 to introduce zero-carbon thermal district energy to their 34-acre site, making the Zibi development project the region’s first zero-carbon-emission community;
Increased our renewable energy generation output at Portage Power by 500 per cent since 2012;
- Recognized as Ontario’s largest municipally-owned producer of green power, with hydroelectric, solar and landfill gas-to-energy generation facilities producing enough renewable electricity to power 107,000 homes annually; and
- Resumed operations at two hydroelectric generating stations across the Ottawa River in Quebec in 2021 to bring additional clean, renewable power into Ontario;

Off-set approximately 18 per cent of the electrical energy demand at our East Campus and 100 per cent at or South Campus through solar energy generation;
Converted nearly 60 per cent of customers to paperless billing, making Hydro Ottawa Limited the distribution utility with the highest online billing participation rate in the province;
Converted more than 40 per cent of our fleet to flex-fuel, battery and hybrid technology;
Lowered energy use at 52 of our 91 substations through the installation of building automation systems to control lighting and heating;
Reduced greenhouse gas emission in our supply chain and procurement process over the last three years by purchasing between 43 and 55 per cent of goods and services from firms within a 100 km radius of the National Capital Region;
Received the Sustainable Electricity Company designation in November 2021 from Electricity Canada, for meeting adherence to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standard and ISO 26000 Social Responsibility guidelines, making us the 11th utility in Canada and the third in Ontario to do so; and
Certified to the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management since 2004 and in September 2020, received ISO 55001 certification for our asset management program, recognizing our commitment to meeting operational, environmental and financial goals to deliver safe, low-cost, clean, reliable power to its customers and community.

Diverting on average more than 90 per cent of our waste from landfill;
Working to upgrade a City of Ottawa wastewater treatment plant by replacing the plant’s three cogeneration engines, and adding a fourth, which will eliminate 1,565 tonnes of CO2 per year and reduce utility costs by $80 million over 25 years.
1.6 million litres of water saved per year thanks to rainwater harvesting and advanced filtration system at the main office.
Diverting used materials (i.e. small transformers, meters) from landfill by working with scrap metal companies to perform metal reclamation of copper wire, steel, and aluminum.

Dedicated 15 acres of land from the 24-hectare site of the Cambrian transformer station towards a pollinator meadow and worked with the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) and the City of Ottawa to seed the meadow in Spring 2021.
Reforested four acres of land with 2,750 trees as per our partnership with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) at our new Cambrian transformer station.

Building a culture of safety, energy conservation and sustainability among children and youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12 through our education program with Electricity Safety and Conservation and Relay Education; the program has educated more than 280,000 local students since its inception in 2001.