A couple of weeks ago, the OLIP interns had the pleasure of meeting with Sandra Dykxhoorn, Director of Provincial Relations, Alexandria Anderson, Public Affairs Advisor, Jake Sikora, Senior Manager of Government Relations and former OLIP Intern, Shawn Ogborne, Manager of Business Integration and Strategic Initiatives, Lyndsay Miller in Media Relations, and the government relations team from Ontario Power Generation (OPG). OPG is a publicly owned company responsible for producing electricity in Ontario. We engaged in a lively discussion about some of OPG’s strategic objectives, its role in protecting the environment, and its innovative initiatives.
As Ontario’s largest clean electricity generator, OPG produces about half of the province’s power using its diverse generation portfolio. Most of the electricity produced by OPG is derived from renewable energy sources such as nuclear and hydro. The company’s operations are founded on a powerful workforce and community partnerships across the province.
During our discussion, we learned about OPG’s efforts to address climate change by decarbonizing Ontario’s electricity system and expanding the province’s use of renewable energy sources, including through the use of nuclear energy.
We also discussed OPG’s innovative projects to leverage new technologies and promote electrification. For example, OPG is working to advance transportation electrification by building electric vehicle charging infrastructure. On this note, we also touched on challenges related to accessing such infrastructure in Northern and rural communities, which they highlighted as a priority for OPG. Our placements have shown us how important it is to consider the diversity of Ontario when crafting policy, something that is at the heart of OPG’s work.
We left the discussion with many new insights and a deeper understanding of power generation in Ontario. OLIP is grateful to OPG for its continued support to the programme!