Business View Magazine | Volume 9, Issue 2

34 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 OSEA has been a longstanding champion of community power, where community residents have a significant stake in the ownership, development, and control. In 2007, OSEA launched the Community Power Fund to provide grants to Ontario communities for power generation projects, which included rural and indigenous communities. OSEA subsequently created the Community Power Services Group to assist these communities in the early-stage development of renewable energy initiatives. OSEA is an important industry connector among a wide variety of sustainable energy stakeholders to promote dialogue and create new platforms to elevate promising new clean technologies and companies. For example, OSEA collaborated with the World Wind Energy Association to jointly host the 7th Annual World Wind Energy Conference, an international exhibition that showcased community power in Kingston, Ontario, in 2008. OSEA followed up by hosting three subsequent Community Power conferences and an “All Energy” conference in 2014. To recognize successful projects and industry leaders in the sustainable energy sector, OSEA launched its first “Powering for Prosperity” gala events in 2011, and subsequently hosted an additional seven gala events. Similarly, to recognize and elevate promising new clean technologies and companies within the industry, in 2012 OSEA launched the Green Energy Doors OpenTM that has become OSEA’s signature annual event. In 2021, GEDO showcased winners in up to 10 distinct sustainable energy areas. Additional information on the 2021 event can be found at www.ontario-sea.org/GEDO-2021