Fortis companies were recognized by Electricity Canada for their leadership in safety, innovation, and community impact at the Powering Partnerships Symposium held in Toronto this week.

“I’m incredibly proud of our teams for being acknowledged by Electricity Canada as innovators, safety leaders, and community champions,” said Gary Smith, Executive Vice President of Operations and Innovation. “These awards recognize leadership in our industry and highlight Fortis’ commitment to enhancing grid reliability, strengthening our communities, and delivering safe and reliable energy to our customers.”

Newfoundland Power, FortisAlberta, and Wataynikaneyap Power each received a 2024 Centre of Excellence Award.

These awards celebrate leadership and ingenuity within the Canadian electricity industry and demonstrate how the electricity sector can positively transform communities.

Out of over 50 applications from electricity providers across Canada, eight projects were selected for the 2024 Centre of Excellence, including three initiatives led by Fortis:

• Newfoundland Power earned recognition for its innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) combined with satellite imagery for vegetation management.
  
• FortisAlberta was acknowledged for its Early Fault Detection technology, which helps reduce wildfire risks and enhance grid safety.
  
• Wataynikaneyap Power was honoured for connecting 17 remote First Nations to the provincial power grid through 1,800 kilometres of transmission lines and 22 substations, thereby reducing reliance on diesel.

Fortis was also recognized for reliability and safety excellence.

Fortis Alberta received the Resiliency and Reliability Award.  This award is given to a utility that has displayed excellence in asset management, innovation in reliability, outage communications, and overall reliability and resiliency management. 

Maritime Electric and Newfoundland Power received the Electricity Canada 2024 President’s Award for Safety Excellence. This award is given to electricity companies that achieve the highest ranking in Total Recordable Injury Frequency (TRIF) among their peers of comparable size in generation, transmission, or distribution operations. This marks the second consecutive year that Maritime Electric has received this award.

Additionally, three FortisAlberta Power Line Technicians—Logan Cisar, Aidan Jamieson, and Trevor Nederhoed—received the prestigious Lifesaving Award for performing CPR and saving the life of a community member.