Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 42
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CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS (2025)
Sustainability is deeply embedded at Hydro Ottawa
A
s part of its bold
commitment to
achieve net-zero
operations by 2030,
Hydro Ottawa has
been steadily electrifying its fleet,
beginning with light-duty
vehicles.
“The transition from diesel to
electric vehicles is a rather tall
challenge, but employees got on
board and we hit the ground
running, looking at all aspects of
how we meet that goal,” says Dale
Williams, manager, fleet and
facilities. “Ottawa winters and
battery life have certainly added
complications, although we’ve
come leaps and bounds as far as
electrifying our fleet.”
To support the transition, the
utility provides employees with
up-to-date information and
hands-on experience with the new
vehicle technologies. Employee
feedback is critical to ensure any
new vehicles meet operational
needs in the field.
“We’re using our current
vehicles until their end of life and
replacing them with greener
options as we go, with a long-term
plan to continue to do so,” says
Williams. “It’s a responsible and
planned approach rather than
immediately replacing
everything.”
Sustainability is a core part of
Hydro Ottawa’s identity and
operations. The utility, wholly
owned by the City of Ottawa,
delivers electricity to more than
364,000 customers in the city of
Ottawa and the village of
Casselman.
“Sustainability is not just a
policy, it’s not just a project — it’s a
core value that drives our actions
as a sustainable employer and
partner,” says Shannon Nicholson,
director of health, safety and
environment. “We have three areas
across the organization where
we’re focused — carbon emission
reduction, greening our procurement and supply chain, and
employee engagement and
culture.”
In terms of greening the
procurement and supply chain,
Hydro Ottawa has an eight-point
plan with specific metrics, such as
how many suppliers are located
within 100 kilometres to help
ensure sustainability is embedded
throughout the utility’s operations.
Integrating climate change
considerations into infrastructure
planning, such as substation
design, is another part of its
sustainability efforts. Steve
Hawthorne, director of distribution program delivery, is
specifically focused on trying to
incorporate low carbon techniques into substation design,
construction and eventual
operations.
“Adapting infrastructure for
climate change is extremely
important, given the increasing
frequency of major weather events
in the region,” says Hawthorne.
“This includes considerations
around the land use and
placement of substations, such as
creating pollinator meadows
around a new substation to
thoughtfully integrate the facilities
Sustainability is not just a
policy, it's not just a project.
It’s a core value that drives
our actions as a sustainable
employer and partner.
— Shannon Nicholson
Director, Health, Safety and
Environment
Hydro Ottawa currently has
close to 30 light-duty electric
vehicles, 16 medium-duty, fully
electric trucks and nine heavyduty trucks equipped with hybrid
powertrains in its fleet. However,
the change to fully electric
heavy-duty vehicles is a work in
progress. Williams says they are
piloting new electric and hybrid
technologies, including exploring
electric bucket trucks, although
the technology is still in development to work well in cold weather.
Envari, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa, designs and implements custom energy solutions for customers.
