Hydro OttawaÂ’s clean energy expansion officially underway

OTTAWA, ON -- - Recently, Hydro Ottawa's President and CEO, Bryce Conrad, gave the media a tour of the future site of the utilityÂ’s new 29-megawatt MW facility. Scheduled to be completed in 2017, the new below-ground hydroelectric station will feed into the provincial grid and power 20,000 homes with clean renewable energy every year.

Joined by Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli and Jim Durrell, Chair of Hydro OttawaÂ’s Board of Directors, the event marked the official announcement of construction at the historic site.

Hydro Ottawa’s vision of the Chaudière Falls expansion project is three-fold: produce clean, renewable energy in an environmentally responsible way be a public space to be enjoyed by all and serve as a place of recognition and celebration of Canada's First Nations and Ottawa’s industrialist past.

Quick Facts

- The renewable power produced at the facility will feed into the provincial grid and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 115,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

- The new site will offer safe viewing platforms and greater public access in the form of a defined corridor on the roof of the new below-grade hydro facility.

- Hydro Ottawa is OntarioÂ’s largest municipally owned producer of green power.

- Hydro Ottawa’s existing green energy portfolio includes four hydroelectric stations at Chaudière Falls and majority shares in landfill gas-to-energy plants at the Trail Road and Laflèche Landfills, representing 39-megawatts MW.

- Earlier this year, Hydro Ottawa under its subsidiary, Energy Ottawa acquired 10 run-of-the-river hydroelectric facilities from Fortis Inc. in Ontario and nearby New York State representing installed green energy capacity of 31-megawatts MW.

- When the new Chaudière Falls facility is operational, Hydro Ottawa’s renewable energy output will total nearly 99-megawatts MW.

“Hydro Ottawa’s Chaudière Falls expansion promises to be an important addition to our community by providing clean, renewable energy to our homes and businesses as a public space where Ottawa residents can come together, and as a celebration of Indigenous Canadians. I applaud Hydro Ottawa for their vision, and look forward to the benefits our community receives from this project‎,” says Bob Chiarelli, Ontario Minister of Energy.

“I am extremely proud to be part of an organization that dares to dream of a more renewable energy future for Ottawa. Hydro Ottawa is making that dream a reality with minimal impact on the environment, inviting collaboration from all stakeholders, and by putting Ottawa residents at the centre of its vision for Chaudière. Once again residents will have unobstructed access to this historical site and birthplace of renewable electricity in Ottawa," says Jim Durrell, C.M., Chair, Board of Directors.