Nicolle Butcher is chief operations officer for Ontario Power Generation in Canada. She is responsible for all of OPG’s generating fleet, as well as the engineering function, integrated fleet management and energy-related commercial business functions, including energy trading, commercial contracting and market affairs. In addition, Butcher is Chair of the Board of both Eagle Creek Renewable Energy and Atura Power, OPG’s fleet of combined cycle gas plants.
OPG provides almost half the power for Canada’s largest province through one of the most diverse generating portfolios in North America. The company owns and operates 66 hydroelectric, two nuclear and two thermal generating stations, as well as one solar facility. OPG also operates four natural gas-fired generating stations and owns and operates 86 hydroelectric stations in the U.S. under the Eagle Creek Renewable Energy banner.
Butcher will speak during the Utility Executive Roundtable at HYDROVISION International on Thursday, July 14. In this interview, she discusses the importance of OPG’s hydro plants to its overall generating portfolio, its work to ensure the continued safety and reliability of these facilities, and potential new development work in the province.
Q: Please give our readers an overview of OPG, including your hydroelectric portfolio.
Butcher: OPG is one of the largest, most diverse clean power producers in North America. We have about 18,270 MW of generating capacity in Ontario with a fleet that includes 66 hydroelectric stations, 241 dams on 24 river systems, two nuclear stations, two thermal stations (dual-fueled and biomass) and one solar facility. OPG is publicly-owned and produces about half of Ontario’s electricity, which is priced an average of 40% lower than other generators. This helps moderate customer bills.
Our hydroelectric fleet in Ontario has helped power the province for more than 100 years and represents more than one-third of OPG’s generation. Our stations reflect a considerable range in size (1 MW to 1,937 MW), age (five to 124 years) and location (~1,600 km between furthest-reaching stations).
Our hydroelectric portfolio also includes 87 wholly or jointly-owned stations through our U.S.-based subsidiary, OPG Eagle Creek Holdings LLC (Eagle Creek). OPG also holds minority interest in 14 other hydroelectric facilities in the U.S.
As we look to the future, hydroelectricity will remain a vital part of our energy mix because it:
- Supports flexibility to meet base electricity needs and peak demands;
- Offers low-cost, long-term generation;
- Advances OPG’s climate change goals as a clean energy asset; and
- Enables other technologies (e.g., electrification)
OPG stations are operated in a safe, transparent and environmentally-responsible manner. This includes a focus on advancing Indigenous reconciliation, supporting local economies and helping make our site communities better places to live, work and play.
Q: You’ve been with OPG for 22 years, most recently being named COO in January 2022. What is your future vision for this organization?
Butcher: My vision for the future would best be described as ‘building our legacy in ways that matter for the future.’ In this sense, we may be one of the most experienced generators in North America but we’re not settling there. We’re focused on providing value to our customers and making social and environmental contributions for generations to come.
So, how are we doing this?
First, we continue to invest in our people. Every person deserves to feel safe at work. They should feel like they belong and have equal access to the tools and opportunities required for them to reach their full potential. Earlier this year, we released an Equity, Diversity & Inclusion strategy to support our journey as a global ED&I leader. Across Ontario and in the U.S., we want a healthy workforce that’s ready to grow with our evolving industry. Recognizing the value of our differences is an important mindset we need to have.
Second, we need to continue operating our facilities with the operational excellence we’re known for. With hundreds of units spanning Canada’s most populous province and a growing U.S.-based fleet, it’s a job that none of our skilled employees take lightly. I’m focused on ensuring we have the right environment to maintain a culture of safety, productivity and pride in what we do.
Third, we need to execute on projects big and small. We’ve just begun a 20-plus-year turbine/generator overhaul program to upgrade 74% of our hydro fleet in Ontario. This requires precision on safety, schedule, cost and the ability to check and adjust as we apply lessons learned from one unit to the next. This investment will help equip the province with a clean and sustainable energy system for the balance of this century.
Lastly, we continue building our industry leadership by investing in innovation and strategic partnerships. We’re advancing our electrification strategy to support the evolution of the transportation sector – something that will require OPG’s clean power. We’re also pursuing other renewables, from solar and micro grids to small modular reactors and long-term nuclear storage solutions. These are just a few ways we’re creating socially-conscious possibilities for the kind of secure and clean energy future we all deserve.
Q: I know OPG has significant generating capacity from nuclear facilities. How does hydropower fit into and support your overall generating portfolio?
Butcher: Waterpower is a key player in our portfolio because it’s a reliable and cost-competitive source of renewable energy. It’s also one of the best ways to advance our climate change and electrification strategies.
Hydroelectric generation is truly our most flexible resource. Where nuclear generation runs a flat profile throughout the day, most of our hydroelectric fleet is able to generate and peak during periods of greatest need in Ontario.
At many of our hydroelectric sites, we also have the ability to time-shift our water throughout a multi-day/week period depending on water availability and storage. This often provides flexibility to generate during periods of high demand, while avoiding overnight periods when demand is low. Time-shifting continues improving our bottom line through hydroelectric incentive mechanisms and ensures electricity is produced when it’s most in-demand for the province.
In an energy market that’s getting increasingly tight and more competitive, building strong relationships with our regulators and stakeholders is critical as we increase our operational flexibility. Our focus on new nuclear and small modular reactors needs to be complimented with more hydro. We’re exploring greenfield development to harness untapped generation and achieve the balance we need in the years to come.
Q: Recently the Government of Ontario asked OPG to investigate new hydroelectric development opportunities. Can you give us some insight into this work?
Butcher: Absolutely. In January 2022, the Ontario Ministry of Energy asked OPG, with support from the Ontario Waterpower Association and the Independent Electricity System Operator, to examine potential opportunities for new hydroelectric development in northern Ontario.
Our analysis identifies new hydro as a key contributor in addressing the growing electricity needs forecast for the province and contains several recommendations for a ‘made-in-Ontario’ solution that will help create a sustainable system for generations to come.
The 66-page report – which positions hydroelectricity as an optimal energy choice for Ontario’s future – outlines advantages like province-wide infrastructure benefits, equity partnerships for Indigenous communities, enhanced system reliability and a means to bolster other northern economic sectors like mining. As an industry leader with more than a century of experience, advancing clean energy by championing its potential is a responsibility we’re proud to have.
Q: Some of your hydroelectric facilities are quite long-lived, being over 100 years old. How do you ensure the continued reliability of these critical facilities?
Butcher: At OPG, we pride ourselves on operational excellence. Whether a station is newly constructed or more than a century old, we’re focused on preventative maintenance and investing in the right areas to increase performance and value for our customers.
Like any piece of machinery, you have to take care of it and mitigate operational issues before they happen. We’ve been teaming up with our Enterprise Engineering group to better evaluate equipment risks across our fleet and identify patterns we can address on a divisional level. Benchmarking is a key element of our operational excellence plan and it’s helping us learn from each others’ outage experiences, tap into shared maintenance knowledge, and avoid a siloed approach to operational performance.
It’s quite remarkable to think that some of our oldest stations were built around World War I and were key contributors to industrialization in Ontario. Sir Adam Beck 1 GS is one of these stations and is celebrating 100 years of operation in 2022. This station was the largest hydroelectric facility in the world and a symbol of new possibilities in the early 20th century.
With proper care and re-investment, assets like Beck have enduring value. They’ve been reliable facilities for generations and now help us address modern-day issues like climate change, energy affordability and security of supply.
Q: OPG has expanded outside of Canada with the acquisitions of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy and Cube Hydro. What was the driving force behind this diversification?
Butcher: We saw an opportunity to broaden our clean energy portfolio by growing our investments beyond our borders. With 87 stations and 677 MW between them, the Eagle Creek and Cube Hydro (subsequently subsumed by Eagle Creek) acquisitions were a great opportunity for us to leverage our expertise and expand our leadership in hydroelectric generation.
Diversification has allowed us to pursue new growth and create a new, long-term revenue stream. These initial acquisitions were a natural fit for us and we’ll continue pursuing new opportunities to grow our portfolio and support the U.S.’ transition to a cleaner energy mix.
Q: Many utilities with hydropower are facing issues around reliability of the water supply due to climate change. Are you facing similar challenges in this area?
Butcher: Similar to other utilities, climate change poses challenges to how we operate our facilities throughout the year. We’re seeing greater year-to-year variability in our watersheds and have recently faced back-to-back years with flood and drought conditions.
Although we don’t have seasonal storage reservoirs, we do have strong relationships with our regulators and host communities. We work with government agencies, scientists, municipalities and of course, nature, to predict conditions and manage our 24 river systems for the safety of Ontarians and the environment.
We’re also increasing our focus on inflow and seasonal forecasting so that we can better plan in advance for fluctuations in water supply. Hydrological technology affords us more predictive power to improve our understanding of water availability for short-term generation, outage scheduling, regulatory compliance and public safety. Customized software in this space will continue improving our capacity to plan our operations and stakeholder communications proactively.
Remaining adaptable to changing environmental conditions is a major focus of our first-ever Climate Change Plan. Adaptability starts with strengthening our assets and operations against climate change-related impacts. It also requires integrating climate science and modelling into our investment decisions and engineering processes when considering future design and asset upgrades. Getting ahead of climate risks will strengthen the electricity grid’s resiliency and help decarbonize our broader economy.
Q: With changes in water inflow comes new challenges around dam safety and the ability to safely pass water when needed. Is OPG focusing on dam safety modifications as a result?
Butcher: Our 66 hydro stations and 241 dams are continually inspected, assessed, monitored and maintained according to Canadian Dam Association standards. Backed by an industry-leading program, we have several projects under way to enhance safety and ensure continued regulatory compliance of these assets.
One project under way is the Little Long Dam Safety Project in northeastern Ontario. With improved water control structures, additional sluicegates and greater discharge capacity, the project will ensure extreme floodwater can safety bypass four stations on the Mattagami River in the event of large-scale flooding. It’s scheduled for completion in late 2023.
We’re proud to be a world leader in dam safety and will continue doing the work necessary to ensure our facilities are built and maintained with the greatest structural integrity.
Q: OPG does significant work around Indigenous relations and reconciliation. What is your focus here, and why is it important?
Butcher: Since the early 1900s, OPG and its predecessor companies have produced essential electricity for Ontario while operating on – and impacting – the treaty lands and traditional territories of Indigenous peoples. While we’ve grown as a learning organization since that time, we’re focused on advancing reconciliation over the long-term.
In 1992, our company developed a formal framework to assess and resolve historic grievances, largely related to the flooding of First Nation reserve lands. Since then, OPG has reached final settlement agreements and delivered formal apologies to 21 First Nation communities through a respectful, non-adversarial and community-based process. Today, we have completed equity partnerships with five First Nation communities on four new generation projects, including a solar facility built on the former grounds of one of North America’s largest coal stations.
As a member of corporate Canada, it’s not only what we say but how we conduct our organization that counts. To that end, we released our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) last year to guide our engagement with Indigenous communities, businesses and organizations. The RAP is based on five key goals that ensure we’re tracking our progress transparently, building mutually beneficial relationships, creating an inclusive workforce, advancing economic reconciliation through collaboration and being a trusted partner in environmental stewardship.
In many ways, we have only just begun our reconciliation journey. There’s more we need to do. Being a company that listens and is willing to engage in meaningful ways is where it starts.
Q: You are speaking during the utility executive roundtable session at HYDROVISION International 2022 in July. Can you give us a sneak peek into a couple of the hot topics for OPG that you plan to cover?
Butcher: Absolutely. I plan to cover a few topics, including:
Megawatts are not the only priority. Traditionally, generators have focused on maximizing opportunities for output. The onus is now rightfully on generators – including OPG – to be a trusted partner for Indigenous communities to work with. This represents a shift in how we need to think about our role (and rights) as power producers.
A bright future requires strong benchmarking. As an industry, we have more work to do when it comes to sharing best practices and learning from our respective experiences. What does solid benchmarking look like? How do we get there?
Making room for different voices. Our workforce is strongest when it’s fueled by people that bring a variety of skills and experience to the table. Are we doing enough to promote diversity of thought and inclusiveness in our industry?
Promoting the value of hydroelectricity. Waterpower has immense potential to address needs like affordability, security of supply, and the climate change crisis. What can we do as industry leaders to champion its role on a global scale?