OPG subsidiary PowerON helping charge up public transportation
At a glance
- This Earth Day, OPG subsidiary PowerON Energy Solutions is continuing to help the Toronto Transit Commission transition to a fully electric bus fleet.
- The project represents the largest heavy-duty vehicle electrification program in Canada.
- PowerON is also helping transit agencies across Ontario electrify to help lower emissions from Ontario’s transportation sector.
The overhead pantograph chargers lining the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) Birchmount garage tell of an electrifying change to the transit industry.
From its beginnings operating electric bus trolleys in the 1920s, to the decades-long shift to diesel-powered engines, to now a shift back to electric, the TTC has come full circle.
This Earth Day, OPG’s subsidiary, PowerON Energy Solutions, is continuing work that began in 2021 to help Canada’s largest municipal transit agency meet its ambitious goal of fully electrifying its entire operations by 2040.
The theme for this year’s Earth Day, “Our Power, Our Planet,” highlights the critical role of clean energy in protecting our environment and ensuring a sustainable future. OPG continues to live this mission every day with its diverse, low-carbon generating fleet and projects, and PowerON is working to leverage this clean energy to decarbonize the transportation sector.
“PowerON was established with a mandate to help fleets electrify,” said Keegan Tully, PowerON’s President and CEO. “Very early in transportation, lots of things were electrified. And then we moved to fossil fuels and internal combustion engines. The TTC’s plan to electrify its bus fleet is the most ambitious I’ve seen. This is the next phase of the TTC being a fully clean transit agency.”
PowerON was established with a mandate to help fleets electrify. ... The TTC’s plan to electrify its bus fleet is the most ambitious I’ve seen.Keegan TullyPowerON President and CEO
Transitioning the TTC’s entire fleet of more than 2,200 buses to 100% zero-emission, battery-electric technology represents the largest heavy-duty vehicle electrification program in Canada to date.
And PowerON has been up to the challenge.
The company has been busy installing equipment, including plug-in chargers, and ensuring the TTC’s eight garages are equipped to support the transition to eBuses.
In 2023, PowerON installed and began operating Canada’s first centralized electric bus fast charger at the TTC’s Birchmount facility. The 1.5-megawatt charger feeds 20 automatic pantograph chargers capable of quickly charging e-buses at speeds of up to 150 kilowatts per charge point.
Outside of the TTC, PowerON has been busy helping support the electrification of transit fleets elsewhere in Ontario and Canada, with clients including Oakville Transit, Durham Region Transit, Barrie Transit, Milton Transit, and Regina Transit.
All of this work is helping lower emissions from the carbon-heavy transportation sector, which produces about 25% of Canada’s annual emissions. In Ontario, PowerON is leveraging the province’s already low-carbon energy system — which only accounted for about 2% of carbon emissions in 2022 — to help lower transportation emissions, which accounts for about 32% of emissions.
With each low-carbon megawatt produced, and with each bus electrified, OPG is working to achieve its vision of electrifying life in one generation.
Our electric future
See how OPG subsidiary PowerON is helping the Toronto Transit Commission pave a new route for electrified transportation.
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