Summer Rewind: Future Proofing the Grid Against Extreme Weather with Guillaume Paradis

As Canadians depend more and more on an electrified grid, safety and reliability are at the core of the conversation. How are we improving the grid’s resilience to climate change and extreme weather? How are we accommodating increased capacity as more people electrify their lives? In episode 99 of thinkenergy, we discuss future proofing the grid and what exactly that means with Guillaume Paradis, Chief Electricity Distribution Officer at Hydro Ottawa.

Related links

Guillaume Paradis, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaume-paradis-30a47721/

Power outage safety: https://www.hydroottawa.com/en/outages-safety/outage-centre/outage-safety

Energy saving resources: https://www.hydroottawa.com/en/save-energy

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Transcript:

Dan Seguin 00:06

This is thinkenergy, the podcast that helps you better understand the fast changing world of energy through conversations with game changers, industry leaders, and influencers. So join me, Dan Seguin, as I explore both traditional and unconventional facets of the energy industry.

 Dan Seguin 00:28

Hey, everyone, welcome back. There's a great analogy I read recently that compared future proofing the electricity grid to Wayne Gretzky. And since this is our 99th episode, woohoo, it just seems fitting that we make our reference to the great one. What made Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time, was not his speed or the uncanny accuracy of his shots, but rather his ability to predict where the puck was going to be an instant before it arrived. utilities like Wayne Gretzky have the ability to anticipate events and predict patterns that can make them more prepared for extreme weather events as a utility, planning and predicting the future is part of our DNA. And as we all prepare to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the feds, provincial and municipal governments, we are seeing a lot of future planning happening to make the electricity system as clean and as resilient as possible. And part of that is predicting what the future will look like, from what energy sources will power our electricity supply, but also what kind of challenges like electrification and threats like extreme weather we will face? So here's today's big question. How can utilities earn customer confidence as they transition towards an electrified grid that can also withstand unpredictable weather to safely and reliably deliver energy. Today's guest is Guillaume packaging. As the chief electricity distribution officer at hydro Ottawa, Guillaume is responsible for planning, design, operations, constructions and maintenance of our nation's capitol electrical power distribution system. In his role, Guillaume leads a team directly accountable for ensuring the safe, efficient and reliable delivery of electricity to hydro Ottawa customers. Guillaume has over a decade of industry experience in progressive leadership roles ranging from research program management, to distribution planning, asset management, design, and construction. Thanks for joining us on the show  today.

Guillaume Paradis 02:56

Thanks for having me.

Dan Seguin 02:57

You've been in the industry for more than a decade now, what's been the biggest change or shift you've witnessed?

Guillaume Paradis 03:05

So what I'd say has been the most significant change over that time period is that we've actually gone from talking about very exciting things and future focus opportunities. So we've gone from talking about them to actually getting to implement them. So some of the things that were on the horizon 10 years ago, and 15 years ago, in fact, were related to electric vehicles, the proliferation of battery storage technology, the development of the smart grid, and over that period of time, through those conversations, we've actually been able to shift the industry to a place where we're actually delivering on some of those promises. So that's very, very exciting. It's a massive challenge for everyone involved, but unlocks a whole series of possibilities, that when I started my career, we were only talking and thinking about,

Dan Seguin 04:08

Okay, what does future proofing the electricity grid really mean? What kind of plans and predictions are you making to help the grid withstand climate change?

Guillaume Paradis 04:20

So future proofing is an interesting one, because, you know, ultimately, all of your success depends on your ability to forecast and forecasting. Currently, with the changing landscape with the pace at which policy is being updated, refreshed, and modified, it is quite challenging. So we've gone from an environment where you could look at decade's worth of data, use a little bit of economic information, and forecasts and combine those things into what would turn out to be a pretty useful and fairly accurate prediction of what your system would be required to deliver. So we've gone from that to an environment where in a matter of, you know, sometimes months, you know, the underlying basis for your predictions as totally been changed. And you have, or you're having to revisit your assumptions from, frankly, a quarter to the next. So, future proofing right now, in my mind is about, you know, keeping an eye out for what's coming. So being able to anticipate what's ahead, being able to stay abreast of all the trends, making, what I would call incremental adjustments to our practices today that ensure that if, and when the future, you know, more specifically crystallizes, we can take advantage of the opportunities, and we're not having to redo too much work, but also without betting too much on one outcome, where we may not have the certainty of what's ahead. So, you know, that's true when you look at the full landscape. And specifically, when we're looking at the predictions around climate change, it's about at a minimum, being very responsive to the more recent events. So using that to update your predictions. And recently, unfortunately, with respect to climate, you know, we've seen what would have been deemed, you know, one in 1000, or one in 100 year events occur at a frequency that far exceeds, you know, what predictions would have called for. And we have to recognize that as being the new trend, despite not having the benefit of 100 years of events in that new paradigm that we find ourselves in. So, you know, from a climate standpoint, I think we have to be a little farther out, and expect that recent data points actually represent the new reality, as opposed to relying on the longer trend that we would like to count on, which is 50-100 years or beyond. So from a climate standpoint, at this point, our assumption is, you know, what's happened recently looks a lot more like what's expected to happen to us in the next few years. And in fact, you know, we're looking to build a little bit of contingency or buffer into our predictions, assuming that it might get a little worse.

Dan Seguin 07:40

Now, why does future proofing the grid go hand in hand with electrification, and clean energy,

Guillaume Paradis 07:48

So electrification and clean energy come down to, in my view, increasing our society's resilience, resilience and dependence on our electricity infrastructure. So, you know, for many years now, many decades, the electricity system has been the underpinning of our modern society. But even more so as we move more of our energy use to the electricity system, it becomes paramount ensure that the infrastructure we have is able to support and maintain with a high level of redundancy, you know, that modern lifestyle where more of what we do is electrified, clean energy, in its various forms, you know, supports our ability to electrify more of our activities, but also from a planning standpoint introduces a bit of a new challenge, in terms of intermittency. And so our ability to have an underlying asset base distribution system or transmission system that is highly redundant and highly secure, to enable and support the use of renewable energy is critical. And so that's where future proofing is really about, you know, ensuring that the bet we're making as a society, which is electrifying to improve the outlook on our climate change objectives, is actually possible going forward.

Dan Seguin 09:29

Don't I've got a follow up question here. What does a self healing grid mean?

Guillaume Paradis 09:35

You know, in a nutshell, self healing is about leveraging technology and automation to ensure that when an issue occurs, whether it be a failure, or an externality, like a tree, you know, impacting our infrastructure. We use that technology that automation to most rapidly re structure and rearrange our distribution system to minimize the impact of those events. So it's really about leveraging automation, you know, rapid communication, we now have access to using the computational power that is also available to us. And letting those tools make the preliminary decision on how best to restore power, before there's a human interaction that comes in to take care of the final steps. So really, if you think about it, and how far we've come in the last 20 years with computer power and communication tools, it's really bringing the latest and the best of those technologies to bear on how we restore power to our customers.

Dan Seguin 10:45

After the May Dereocho, a lot of people were asking why utilities don't bury all overhead lines? What's your answer to that Gil?

Guillaume Paradis 10:55

So yeah, it comes up every time there's a storm, and it's, it's perfectly understandable. And I think there's a couple things that come into play when we think about, you know, what is best to deliver power to our customers. Certainly, you know, we've been talking about redundancy in an underground system, when it comes to certain types of climate related events, like large storms, or wind storms, you know, introduce a certain level of security that exceeds what is possible with an overhead system. But the other very important element as we think about electrification going forward, is the element of cost, and affordability of power. And, you know, just from a comparison standpoint, the basic math, you know, when evaluating underground alternatives to overhead systems, is about a 10 to one cost ratio. So certainly when we look at, you know, where best to invest dollars, and how best to bring power to communities, that cost component is factored in and becomes a consideration, particularly when you look at lower density areas, or farther away areas from production centers, it becomes a costly proposition. Now, what we're looking to do going forward is we see undergrounding as a strategic tool in improving our climate resilience. And so we're going to look at certain corridors, perhaps, or certain targeted investments to underground infrastructure, to try to get the most value possible for our customers as we plan for, you know, an elevated climate challenge in the future. But that consideration around costs is significant. And finally, what I'd say as well is, you know, your ability to restore power when there's a problem with overhead infrastructure is far greater than it is when an underground system fails. And so in addition to that cost component, the ability to restore power quickly, when there is a problem is higher with an overhead infrastructure.

Dan Seguin 13:10

At the beginning of the last century, it was the Industrial Revolution. This century is shaping up to be an electrical revolution. How confident are you about the grid's capacity, as more and more people electrify their cars, and eventually, their homes?

Guillaume Paradis 13:32

So how confident I would say very confident. And that's not to minimize the scale of the challenge ahead of us. You're correct, we're now proposing to essentially, you know, completely shift the dynamics around electricity. In a matter of, you know, I would like to say decades, but it's essentially a decade at this point. And so it's a very complex challenge from an engineering standpoint and a planning standpoint. But I've seen how the conversation and the thinking has evolved over the last 1015 years in our industry, I've seen the technologies that are being brought forward as tools to be leveraged to enable that transition to a more electric future. And, you know, the significant load growth, I will come with that. So I think we have the tools, we need to maintain a high level of awareness and adaptability in, you know, facing what's ahead of us. We can't fall back on old habits or, you know, make excuses when we have solutions we want to implement and we know we need to implement to enable that electrified future, but I think We will get there. And I've seen all sorts of signs pointing to that possibility. And it's going to come down to once again making the most of all the tools we have. So we talked about technology earlier, we're going to have to leverage technology to manage how electric vehicles are charged, and when, and in what parts of the city and how best to leverage the existing infrastructure to do that, because we know, we can just build or double the size of our electric infrastructure to accommodate that growth. So we're going to have to be more refined, we're going to have to leverage all the tools available to us, including distributed energy resources, but I think we will get there and I like what I'm seeing from all the stakeholders across the industry, and thinking and adapting to that new reality.

Dan Seguin 15:50

Here's another follow up question. What would you say to those who are worried about reliability and power outages?

Guillaume Paradis 15:59

I would say that's our main focus. And so it's completely normal to have some concerns in a context where more of our lives become dependent on the electricity system. And but, you know, on our end, from an electricity industry standpoint, reliability has been forever, essentially, you know, the focus of our energy and our attention. And now we all understand that, we need to elevate the reliability standards that have been developed over the last decades. And so we have, once again, certain tools we can leverage to do that. So again, not to say it's not significant, we have to go from, you know, what has been a 99.998% availability to something even closer to 100%. Because we know our customers depend on our infrastructure more than ever. But we're working on that. And we're going to bring in some tools that will help us support that outcome. And certainly, you know, we talked about automation, but things like battery storage, becoming more prevalent, you know, within the landscape, including the batteries of electric vehicles, over time, will be one of those examples of new tools that we can try to leverage to deliver, deliver that elevated level of reliability that our customers will expect in our society will need.

Dan Seguin 17:33

Okay, thanks. Yeah, there will be power outages, we can't avoid that. Knowing that, what are some of the things customers could or should consider doing to be better prepared?

Guillaume Paradis 17:46

Yeah. So that's another interesting question with respect to what we've seen in the last few years. So even just through some of the climate related events that we've experienced, you know, longer duration outages related to tornadoes are due to Russia more recently, one of the basic things that everyone is encouraged to do and we try to promote is, you know, developing a plan for the household, right, or for, you know, your business if you're a commercial customer, but think about what things look like, from your perspective. In the event of an outage of various durations that like, you know, the basic exercise would be to think about something of short duration, say two hours of less or less than looking at something a bit more prolonged like six hours, and then going to the next step of saying, what happens if it's more than 24 hours. And you know, if you go to our website, and the website of, you know, many of our peer utilities, most offer a set of resources around how to build a toolkit to be able to remain safe and function through certain duration outages. And then, of course, if you want to go beyond that for certain critical customers, and that conversation is ongoing, and everyone's minds already been turned to that, but looking at other alternatives, like on site generation, energy storage, generators, of course, being the traditional option, but looking to secure some critical processes with on site generation where possible. So building resilience is something that we've worked on, you know, for decades, through our infrastructure investments, of course, but working with customers, and more so than ever again, as we electrify many more aspects of our lives. We need to ensure that everyone appreciates and recognizes what may be required if power was to for hopefully a very short amount of time not be available.

Dan Seguin 20:03

Now, what kind of planning and predictions are you making for the short, mid and long term when it comes to electrification?

Guillaume Paradis 20:13

So the short term is probably the most interesting element now, because it's been a little difficult to figure out exactly when things would land. So what we're seeing today, and that's ongoing now, is that, you know, certainly many customers are actively looking at reducing their impact in terms of carbon footprint. And they're looking at doing that through electrification. And so we're seeing a lot of activity where customers choose to switch to fuel, which would be essentially moving away from using carbon intensive energy resources for things like heating, and then leveraging our infrastructure to support that. So when that happens at a campus level, or for commercial customers, that can be a significant growth in the demand on the electricity system. So we're fairly able to project what that looks like. And it's been happening at a good pace. On the electric vehicle adoption side of things we've been monitoring for over a decade now, we've been, you know, doing some modeling, some predictions, we've worked with, you know, external stakeholders to put together studies that would help us understand the impact. The thing that has been challenging, certainly over the last two years is that there's now a clear gap between the market demand with or for electric vehicles, and what manufacturers and the supply chains are able to make available to that market. So figuring out the exact timing has become a little more challenging, where we would have expected to see, you know, a very steady growth, but a significant growth that would eventually turn into sort of a complete shift to electric vehicle purchases. Whereas it's taking a bit longer, I think, to occur than we would have, frankly, hoped for, but also expected, it's getting, it's gotten us or given us a bit more time as supposed to plan for it. But certainly from an electrification standpoint, and the predictions that we're making, we're seeing electric vehicles being sort of pervasive across our distribution system. It'll occur over a certain number of years, but we will have electric vehicle charging occur all over service territory. And certainly from a fleet standpoint, once again, as soon as some of the manufacturers manage to ramp up their capacity to produce vehicles, we're expecting to see more and more fleet operators move their entire operation to electric vehicles. And so we're preparing for that as well.

Dan Seguin 22:58

Now, Guillaume, tell me, what keeps you up at night, then, talk to me about what gives you hope.

Guillaume Paradis 23:06

So what still keeps me up at night. And I think that's just a virtue of the environment. And the industry that we're in is the safety of our team. And, frankly, anyone who interacts with our infrastructures, so that that's something that we easily forget in our society, considering how, you know, ubiquitous energy electricity is, it's just the sheer power that that electricity represents, and how close in proximity it comes to many people, certainly our workforce, you know, physically interacts with that infrastructure every day. And so ensuring that we remain safe at all times is critical. But it's the same for our customers and anyone who comes close to the electricity infrastructure. And so that's, that's first and foremost, I think it's just, you know, a reality of what we do, distributing electricity. But certainly just the general pace of change is interesting, I wouldn't say it keeps me up at night, because I'm worried it keeps me up at night because it's exciting. And there's so much possibilities that come with what's ahead to a degree that we've frankly, never seen in our industry. And so it's just a completely exciting time to be part of the electricity industry. We just got to make sure that we do everything we can to leverage what's coming for the benefit of our customers and to power our community. But you know, there are much worse things to be kept up at night by and I think it's just a lot of energy. Literally, I suppose, coming to all of us, you know around the organization in the industry. Well, hope is So we have, you know, so many bright colleagues, so many people looking at what's, you know, ahead and what's upon us, that we're uniquely positioned to help, you know, our, all societies across the globe, deliver on, you know, what is, you know, the generational challenge of climate change. So we're, you know, it's, it's not often that you're part of an industry that can have such a significant impact on such a large problem. And so to be right in the middle of it, and having a key role in enabling the aspiration of our entire society, is really exciting. And, you know, having the chance to take tangible and real concrete actions to get us all there is fantastic. So the hope comes from the energy of everyone involved, and the talent of everyone in Walt involved, and the passion that they bring to solving this massive, massive challenge that we have ahead of us.

Dan Seguin 26:12

Moving on here, what role does hydro Ottawa or utilities in general have when it comes to delivering solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Guillaume Paradis 26:22

So that the, I think the unique perspective that we bring, so certainly, electrifying period, right, so we're, we're, you know, an alternative to dirtier sources, particularly here in Ontario, where we can still count on an electricity system that is very significantly, you know, supplied by renewable energy resources. So we're sort of a platform for greenhouse gas reduction, just by virtue of electrification. So that is a significant role. And even more importantly, we also have, you know, an opportunity to be direct partners with industries, stakeholders, businesses, commercial actors, who are actually trying to reduce their greenhouse gases, footprint and impact. And so we're, we're part of the conversation and what we do differently than other businesses is, we think and plan in decades, and, you know, in Windows of 25, and 50 years, and so we've been here 100 years, we're expecting to be here, you know, many 100 more. And so we have that long term perspective that we can bring to the table, when engaging with other stakeholders who maybe think more on a sort of business case level in terms of three and five year paybacks, we're actually able to bring in that long term perspective to inform their decision making. So it's pretty unique, frankly, and, and we're also in many, many cases, in a position where we're trusted advisors. So there has been that trust built over decades of being reliable and available. And so we're seen as or as almost impartial in the process of electrifying and reducing greenhouse gases. And so again, we can bring that perspective to bear when supporting our customers and making those decisions and enabling those objectives of more sustainable activities.

Dan Seguin 28:43

Sorry about this Guillaume, but I've got a follow up question, what are some of the initiatives that hydro Auto is doing to help customers in this area?

Guillaume Paradis 28:51

So we have essentially the full inventory of initiatives. So from a customer standpoint, we work with them at the facility level, we have, you know, our key account representatives, we're sort of their energy advisors on demand. And so, you know, that is a direct line between customers and all the portfolios and all the options that are available in the industry. So that's, that's big, because it's, it's almost working with them from the inception of their plans to try to bring them to, you know, that future of a lower carbon footprint. And so, you know, we're very active in that space. You know, from an energy standpoint and an energy system standpoint, we see our responsibility as being the local enabler of local renewable energy resources, and a more efficient use of energy, you know, in our community and in the communities that we serve. And so we're working with industry stakeholders, particularly regulatory agencies, and better informing their approach to enabling those resources to make sure that when customers approach us with their solar generation project, or with their battery storage project, we find the best way to make that investment work for them financially, but also for our community from a greenhouse gas standpoint. And so we have a very important role in sort of acting as an interface between, you know, our constituents, and the regulatory agencies that govern what we do. And that's fundamental to making that green future possible. Because we're essentially, you know, ending an entire regulatory framework, and an entire industry paradigm on the fly, as people make those decisions, to invest differently. And so that advisor role is critical, that advocacy role is critical. And you know, more specifically, we have a wide variety of programs, all available in great detail on our website, to help customers think through the decisions that they're making with respect to energy.

Dan Seguin 31:21

Now, what are your thoughts on distributed energy resources, what kind of challenges or opportunities do they pose?

Guillaume Paradis 31:32

Not only a great opportunity, but a necessary piece of that puzzle coming together with respect to electrifying and proceeding with that energy transition that we've all embarked on. And that going forward with the combination of a growing demand for electricity, and some of the challenges brought about by climate change, will need to be able to leverage energy resources closer to where the demand actually exists. And distributed energy resources are sort of the elementary building blocks that will allow us to do that where by having a generation closer to our customers within our community here in Ottawa, for example, and in Castleman, we'll be able to ensure that we're not reliant on power coming from, you know, hundreds of kilometers away somewhere across the province. And that under more scenarios, contingency or otherwise, we're able to leverage what's here to ensure that our customers stay power through whatever may come and so the D ers bolt in meeting capacity requirements going forward and meeting resilience expectations will be essential. And so once again, they in terms of scaling up to, you know, many 1000s within Ottawa, Ottawa, they represent a pretty significant engineering challenge in rethinking our control systems, our, you know, engineering decisions, but they're a necessary and important building block, and therefore much larger of an opportunity than they are a threat. And we just need to spend the next few years continuing to evolve our ability to leverage those in real time to meet our future objectives.

Dan Seguin 33:30

Okay, yeah, we always end our interviews with some rapid fire questions. We've got a few for you. Are you ready?

Guillaume Paradis 33:38

Okay,we'll give it a shot.

Dan Seguin 33:40

Okay. What are you reading right now?

Guillaume Paradis 33:43

So, I'm not sure if the timing of this conversation will matter. But certainly leading up to Remembrance Day, I sort of tend to go back to at least one book, you know, related to war, and the impacts of war. And so I've gotten back into reading August by Barbara Tuchman. So that's sort of one of my favorite books about the start of the First World War. Just very well written. And every time I go back to it, I'm just inspired by the quality of the storytelling, but I have this bad habit of reading multiple books at the same time, which typically takes me forever to get through them. I've started Dawn of everything or the dawn of everything, which is a complicated but very interesting reevaluation of how modern enlightenment thinking has evolved in Europe through the influence of some of the North American First Nations. It is a very interesting topic there. And also reading An old classic and letters from a stoic by Seneca when I managed to not fall asleep at 1230 Each night, but those are the three books that are on my night table right now. 

Dan Seguin 35:16

Now, what would you name your boat? If you have one? Or maybe do you have one?

Guillaume Paradis 35:22

I do not. And I would let my kids name it. And so I expect it would be called something related to Paw Patrol, or the latest show that they're on these days. But I would certainly not shoulder that responsibility. And I would ask my kids to decide what the name should be,

Dan Seguin 35:47

Who is someone that you admire, Guillaume?

Guillaume Paradis 35:50

I'm going to stay on the same theme with that one. And I think I have to say, I admire my wife. And I do because I get to watch her in action every single day. And I see how she tackles problems. And she multitasks and makes problems go away that I couldn't quite wrap my head around. And so the relentless energy or determination that she applies to everything she does, is really a big inspiration for me. So, you know, surely there are others, you know, in our history or otherwise, that could be inspirations, but no one resonates in my life, quite to the degree that my wife does.

Dan Seguin 36:35

Okay, what is the closest thing to real magic that you've witnessed?

Guillaume Paradis 36:42

Fair, that's, that's a tricky one. I think, not the engineering type talking about science here. But I think just there's two extremes that are either dead technologies that we've managed to develop. And one of the ones I think of occasionally, is them, computers and the chips and the microprocessors we've been to develop, able to develop and just the sheer scale, and the complexity that we've been able to create there. Otherwise, things like CRISPR, for genetic splicing, I just still can't quite wrap my head around how that's possible. But we're able to do things with DNA now that are just, you know, stuff of science fiction 20 years ago, anything to do with space exploration, and deploying, you know, telescopes in space or launching probes to Mars, I still don't understand how we managed to do that, without something failing more often than it does. And otherwise, the other extreme, I would say is, is just nature, right. And that's exactly what we're all working on today, across the globe, is recognizing that what we have, you know, around us, our planet is just beyond amazing, and, you know, almost incomprehensible in complexity. And we have a responsibility to take care of that. But I think, you know, whenever we have, I have the chance of stepping out of the city and just looking around at nature for a few minutes, you have to kind of be reminded of how unlikely it all seems that something so complex, so beautiful, would come together. And so I think, you know, in the real world, those things are as close as we can get to magic, really.

Dan Seguin 38:38

Okay, this is an interesting one, Guillaume. What has been the biggest challenge to you personally, since the pandemic began?

Guillaume Paradis 38:46

That's a tricky one to think through. Because there's been so much that seems to have happened over the last 24 months - and now 30 months of the pandemic, I would say just having to constantly adapt without what seemed for a while a real frame of reference, right. So if you take yourself back to the early days of the pandemic, in particular, it just seemed like every other week, we would, we would be learning new things about how the pandemic would work and how forecasts look as to how we might get out of that situation. And so, you know, I'm someone who loves change in general. But even for me, in those early days, it just seemed a little bit unsettling to feel like every other week, you had to rethink a lot of your decisions, a lot of your planning a lot of the ways in which you thought you could protect yourself, your colleagues in your family, and so just having to do that on an ongoing basis for an extended period of time. Like that was very, very challenging. And so I'd probably put that as the biggest challenge. But obviously, you know, everything else that flowed from there was back to our society or friends and family or colleagues. That was just a very, very unique situation to work through in general, right?

Dan Seguin 40:11

We've all been watching a lot more Netflix and TV lately, what is your favorite movie or your favorite show?

Guillaume Paradis 40:19

So I watch just about anything that comes up, that I can sort of sit through for more than 15 minutes that sort of detest now. We've all watched so much TV over the last few years that if something can capture your attention for 15 minutes, that's probably a good sign. I always, and that might be a boring answer. But I always end up going back to, you know, one of the classics and Seinfeld. So, you know, you look at what's available. And, you know, sometimes you just don't have the energy to start something new. And I just go back to it, I found it's aged fairly well, some of the humor in there is quite timeless. And so it's sort of like a comforting blanket almost at this point, they just go back to a couple old Seinfeld episodes.

Dan Seguin 41:12

Lastly, sir, what's exciting you about your industry right now?

Guillaume Paradis 41:18

I mean, I've said it a few times already. But just the opportunity to be in the middle of all that change. Like, it's such an important time in our societies evolution, I would not want to be on the sidelines of watching that unfold. And I think, you know, being so centrally positioned to help us all achieve those really big aspirations we have with respect to climate and the environment. I think that's great, right? And we have the tools, we have the energy we have, you know, everyone is willing, and so we just have to do it. So I think, you know, it's such a source of inspiration and energy. That, you know, I couldn't ask for more frankly, electricity was always important. And I was always something that made our industry very intriguing, and, you know, interesting, but that has been taken to a whole new level in the last little while. And for the foreseeable future, that, you know, there's going to be an endless supply of energy for all of us to solve those big problems.

Dan Seguin 42:31

Well, Guillaume, we've reached the end of another episode of The think energy podcast. If our listeners wanted to learn more about you, and our organization, how could they connect?

Guillaume Paradis 42:45

So certainly, you know, go to our website, we've just launched a brand new website for a group of companies, I believe. It's under the name of power as one.com. Otherwise, our hydro auto website, of course, I wouldn't encourage you to find out more about me, I'm not that important. But check out the resources we have on our website. Our organization in particular is doing all sorts of novel and cool things, whether it be across Portage power, and vari Hebrew networks, or hydro Ottawa limited. So check out what we have there and reach out, you'll see all sorts of channels on there that you can use to engage with us. We're actively looking for everyone's input as we think about the future of energy. And so please come forward with whatever creative solutions you have. And I assure you, we'll consider them.

Dan Seguin 43:46

Again, Guillaume, merci beaucoup, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you had a lot of fun.

Guillaume Paradis 43:52

Cheers. And it was great. Thank you, Dan, for having me.

Dan Seguin 43:55

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Think Energy podcast. And don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review wherever you're listening. And to find out more about today's guests, or previous episodes, visit think energy podcast.com. I hope you'll join us again next time as we spark even more conversations about the energy of tomorrow.