OPG in Bruce County: Update – January, 2022

“Happy New Year!” While January is nearing an end, we’re advised this greeting is good all through the month. It’s our sincere wish that this year will indeed be a happy one, with prosperity and good health for all in our Bruce-area communities. At the outset of 2022, as Canada and the world continue to address the pandemic, here at Ontario Power Generation we continue to safely staff all our generating stations, to provide the province with the electricity we all need. We continue to promote all the necessary COVID-19 safety protocols such as masking, physical distancing and practicing good hygiene – and, of course, the vaccines! And what continues to inspire us, in this important work, is our vital role in addressing climate change, by providing clean, low-carbon energy, today and in the future.

Shovels in the ground: In mid-December, a ground-breaking-ceremony took place in Kincardine, for a new facility called Western Clean-Energy Sorting and Recycling (WCSR), to be built in 2022. The purpose is to maximize recycling and free release of clean-materials, while minimizing volumes for interim storage and permanent disposal. This will benefit the environment, by reducing the need for new storage buildings. The WCSR will employ about 25 people in a 42,000-square-foot facility just east of the Bruce nuclear site, at the Bruce Energy Centre industrial park. It’s all part of the mission of OPG’s Nuclear Sustainability Services to promote sustainability, and protect people and the environment, by embracing the three Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle.

Around Ontario and beyond:

• Water power: The Ontario government has asked OPG to examine opportunities for new hydroelectric development in northern Ontario. OPG, working with the Ontario Waterpower Association, will update previous evaluations of hydroelectric potential, while engaging with Northern and Indigenous communities. OPG will share this work with the Ministry of Energy as well as the Independent Electricity System Operator, which is developing an achievable pathway to zero carbon emissions in the electricity sector.
• Finance leader: OPG announced that Aida Cipolla will join the company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective March 7, 2022. An experienced business executive, Aida comes to OPG from Toronto Hydro, where she has worked since 2008, most recently as Executive Vice President and CFO.
• Skilled Sisters: In a continuing series of stories about our people, OPG puts the spotlight on Keighly McKee, a mechanical technician and millwright apprentice at our Niagara Operations. Growing up, she admired her millwright father and aspired to follow in his footsteps – and today she chairs a group called Sisters in the Brotherhood, to encourage women to enter skilled trades. She also shared her knowledge on welding for a new Introduction to Millwrighting training program, part of OPG’s Indigenous Opportunities Network.