The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) has named Vittoria Bellissimo as its incoming president and CEO, effective October 31, replacing Robert Hornung, who is retiring from the role.
“I am delighted to welcome Vittoria as the new president and CEO of CanREA,” states Jason Chee-Aloy, chair of CanREA’s board of directors. “Wind energy and solar energy are Canada’s lowest-cost sources of new electricity generation and, coupled with energy storage, will be critical to Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We are pleased that Vittoria will continue CanREA’s work to enable Canada to capitalize on its massive untapped renewable energy potential.”
Bellissimo comes to CanREA after more than 10 years of working with electricity customers as the executive director of the Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta and almost 20 years in the electricity sector. Previously, she worked in renewable energy procurement at both the Ontario Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Power Authority.
“I am excited to take on this role at a time when Canada must dramatically increase its use of wind, solar and energy storage to meet its climate change commitments,” comments Bellissimo. “CanREA’s 300+ members are leaders in Canada’s energy transition, and I look forward to advocating on their behalf for the policy, regulatory and market changes required to enable the responsible, sustainable, and accelerated deployment of these technologies.”
“In my 19+ years with CanREA and the Canadian Wind Energy Association, wind and solar energy have moved from the margins to the mainstream,” says Hornung. “I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to play a role in this transformation and confident that Vittoria and the excellent CanREA team will successfully advocate for Canada to take the steps required to make CanREA’s 2050 Vision a reality.”
CanREA’s 2050 Vision, Powering Canada’s Journey to Net-Zero, demonstrates that Canada will need to increase its installed wind and solar energy capacity ten-fold by 2050 to achieve its net-zero commitment.
“The CanREA Board would like to thank Robert Hornung for his many years of leadership and service to the industry and his role as the founding President and CEO of CanREA,” mentions Chee-Aloy. “We wish him the very best in his retirement and future endeavors.”
