Saturday, April 19, 2025
More than 325 members of the clean energy community came together at the fifth annual edition of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) Operators Summit, presented at the Delta Hotel in Toronto, Ont. on April 16 and 17, 2025.
This is the largest conference and exhibition devoted to the operations and maintenance of renewable energy and energy storage sites in Canada, providing two days of knowledge sharing and networking with more than 50 companies and 40 exhibitors.
“This year we are focusing on engaging communities and the focus efforts are two-fold,” said Vittoria Bellissimo, President and CEO of CanREA. “On the one hand, we’re talking about engaging communities in which our members are building, owning, and operating projects and how that’s a long-term commitment that needs to be focused on to ensure that the values and goals of the community are aligned from an environmental, social and economic standpoint. On the other hand, we’re talking about the community of Canadian operators of wind, solar and storage projects. This is a really great opportunity for them to connect and share best practices.”
As Canada accelerates its transition to a sustainable energy future, the landscape for renewable energy and energy storage procurements is evolving rapidly. There has never been so much investment in new, affordable, clean sources of electricity.
“This is a growth time for our industry – so we are really focused on getting clean energy projects built,” explained Bellissimo. “Historically, if you look back back, over 80 per cent of the growth was happening in one province: Alberta. That’s not the case anymore. Now we’ve got so many clean energy procurements across Canada.
CanREA President and CEO Vittoria Bellissimo and Environment Journal Editor Connie Vitello.
To support this shift, CanREA has developed a Clean Energy Procurement Calendar—a tool designed to track and consolidate procurement opportunities in wind, solar and energy storage across Canada. The calendar is currently tracking projects totalling over 50 Gigawatts and over $30 billion of investment. For a link to this calendar, click here.
Bellissimo adds that the CanREA team is focused on supporting the successful development of these clean energy projects by helping to reduce barriers, work on customer connections, manage the supply chain, and include Indigenous voices at the table.
When it comes to the trade war started by the U.S. administration and the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs, she remains determined to empower members to overcome obstacles and maintain hope.
“It’s going to be complicated. It’s going to introduce uncertainty in getting projects built and in running businesses. But I’m hopeful that the federal and provincial governments will work together, and work with us, to manage that uncertainty and secure our supply chains, because energy sovereignty is critical for Canada to retain its status as an economic success story.”
The event also featured the official launch of the Electricity Human Resources Canada’s “Winds of Change 2025” report, and CanREA’s initiatives, highlight the growing demand for skilled workers in the renewable energy sector, particularly for positions like wind turbine technicians and solar photovoltaic (PV)/thermal technicians. The report also suggests that traditional electrician roles may become more challenging to fill due to the shift towards renewable energy.
Expert panels featured compelling conversations on stakeholder engagement, with a variety of diverse experts in the field sharing their secrets and best practices for operational success, as well as best practices to ensure projects reduce, reuse and recycle materials in practical ways. Elevator pitches between panels also provided insight into new and existing service providers from across the country. For example, SUNSET Renewable Asset Management Inc., a fully Indigenous-owned sustainable solutions company with a focus on circular economy for the renewable energy industry, shared their innovative processes and advanced technologies to manage early loss and end-of-life waste materials for wind, solar, and energy storage liabilities throughout Canada and internationally.
Environment Journal’s Vanessa Watson and Connie Vitello engaged with a variety of exhibitors and learned about some of the most innovative companies involved in servicing the clean energy market. Exhibitors from left to right: Denis Jomphe of Groupe LD; Jaydip Khambhu and Larry King of RRC; and, Jenna Belcourt of Vector Construction.
Event sponsors included: EDF Renewables; Nordex; Pandell, an OSG Company; Clearlight Energy; Energy Safety Canada; Goldwind; Pattern; Aviva; Enercon; and Sungrow.
Stay tuned for coverage of these and other highlights from the Operator’s Summit.
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Featured image credit: CanREA
Note: A photo album from the Summit will be available soon, here: https://renewablesassociation.
