Ottawa: Hydro Ottawa announced March 7 that it has been awarded a 40-year contract that will allow it to expand the Chaudière Falls generating station, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing clean electricity to Ontario for years to come.
The Power Purchase Agreement, administered by the Ontario Power Authority, will result in the construction of a new 29 MW facility, increasing Hydro Ottawa’s hydroelectric capacity to 58 MW. Hydro Ottawa (under its subsidiary, Energy Ottawa) applied for the contract under the OPA’s Hydro Electric Standard Offer Program (HESOP) Municipal Stream in November 2013. It plans to start construction in 2015.
Hydro Ottawa’s renewable energy facilities include six hydroelectric stations at Chaudière Falls and landfill gas-to-energy plants at the Trail Road and Laflèche Landfills. Together, these facilities help to reduce greenhouse gases by almost 300,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.