"We've built 25 gigawatts, we're tracking another 24 gigawatts of projects in procurement phases, and we've forecasted an additional up to 66 gigawatts of capacity. It's a $200 billion opportunity across the country over the next 10 years."
It's a good time to be in renewable energy, and Vittoria Bellissimo, Sc'03, is at its epicentre. As President and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), she has helmed the nation's most prominent organization in wind energy, solar energy, and energy storage since 2022.
Her journey to becoming a leading national voice in renewable energy started at Smith Engineering. Bellissimo "always loved math — and engineering seemed math-heavy," she says. "I ultimately loved it."
Her environmental focus came in her senior year in Mathematics and Engineering (Applied Math or 'Apple Math'). "I took a fourth-year course in Environmental Studies, and we talked about carbon pricing, and water use, and the prof got me all riled up about climate and the environment — I would talk people's ears off about electricity, and the feedback I got was 'maybe you should study this more.'"
This led to a graduate degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland ("I was the only engineer in their multidisciplinary environmental sustainability program," Bellissimo recalls) and early-career work with the Scottish Parliament.
Returning to Canada, Bellissimo worked with the Ontario Ministry of Energy, and later the Ontario Power Authority. From there, her career took her west. "I moved to Alberta for the open electricity market. I spent 14 years working with large industrial customers, helping them use electricity better, being involved in regulatory hearings to try to make the system more efficient," she says.
After CanREA formed in 2020, the merger of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and the Canadian Solar Industries Association, with an added mandate of energy storage, Bellissimo was recruited as its second President and CEO. Since then, the organization has been growing rapidly. "We have over 30 people coast to coast, people in all aspects of the sector, and a top-notch policy team," she says. "CanREA handles what we call front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter renewable energy; front-of-the-meter being the larger utility scale projects, up to hundreds of megawatts, but also behind-the-meter, which covers everything from rooftop residential to commercial and industrial applications. We run the largest electricity conference in the country, Electricity Transformation Canada, and Summits in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and networking events across the country. We bring industry together and push the dialogue."
The growth of CanREA reflects the growth of the renewable market, leapfrogging from an Alberta-based focus over the past few years to a national one. "The growth is coast to coast. There's been a transition from one market to nine markets, ensuring that there's the right policy environment, that the right players are at the table. The development cycle of projects from inception through delivery needs to be as frictionless as possible. We almost can't build electricity fast enough, and the fastest technologies to market are wind, solar and energy storage."
This is reflected in new provincial and national commitments. "Earlier this year, Ontario bought over one gigawatt of renewable energy projects," Bellissimo says. "I was in Ottawa meeting with the Prime Minister a couple of weeks ago, about the national energy strategy, and I think his government understands the problem: we're not going to have enough electricity; we need to build faster."
An engineering degree is part of what establishes Bellissimo's credibility in the boardroom, and in meetings like those with the Prime Minister. "To go into a meeting and have people see that you're wearing an iron ring really brings some gravitas to the conversation," she says. "Nobody's afraid to throw numbers at you. Nobody's afraid to explain difficult concepts because they know that you'll be able to keep up. Electricity is complicated, and having an engineering education has been a really valuable tool to understand all aspects of the sector."
Bellissimo is accustomed to seeing the iron ring across the country — and often worn by her fellow alumni. "I run into Queen's and Sc'03 alumni all the time in industry," she laughs. "It's fantastic! We hosted an Alberta networking event last week, and a classmate from my first year in Engineering was there. I was in Toronto not long ago at an event and ran into other former classmates. Queen's alumni are everywhere building the future of the Canadian economy, and it's always exciting to run into them."
The booming industry will lead to opportunity, and Bellissimo hopes to see more Smith Engineering faces in the industry soon. "Workforce is absolutely a potential bottleneck," she says, given the scope of growth of renewable energy in Canada. The need for new talent is paramount. "Engineering is a great platform for jumping off to all aspects of industry in Canada, and this electricity is an industry that will need the kinds of engineers Queen's produces very soon."