Lara Ludwig of SaskPower is a recipient of Electricity Canada's Faces of the Industry award

OTTAWA, ON, April 30, 2024 /CNW/ - SaskPower's Manager of Stakeholder Relations Lara Ludwig has been selected to receive one of Electricity Canada's first-ever Faces of the Industry Award for her work leading public engagement on Saskatchewan's power future.

The Faces of the Industry award highlights the work of six people who have shown outstanding achievement within the electricity sector. These individuals have demonstrated innovation and leadership and come from every part of the industry including executive leadership, communications, engineering, safety and public engagement.

Lara brought employees from across SaskPower together to engage with the public on Saskatchewan's power future. The Future Supply Plan ? 2030 and Beyond engagement project launched in 2022 with Lara leading the effort to engage with Saskatchewan residents. In the first two stages, more than 15,000 people shared their values, priorities and preferences through surveys, polls, education events, online and workshops. During the third stage more opportunities for engagement were added like a take-home workshop kit, and in-person sessions in six Saskatchewan cities and over 25,000 residents participated in total. Feedback gathered throughout the engagement process will help inform SaskPower's Recommendations for our Power Future scheduled for release this summer.

This level of public engagement has been unprecedented at SaskPower. Lara championed the idea that an engaged, informed and understanding public is vital to SaskPower's success as Saskatchewan transitions to low-or non-emitting forms of electricity. And Lara is continuing to do this work, as she oversees engagement tied to small modular reactor siting, which is another potentially critical piece of SaskPower's future.

The Faces of the Industry awards were given out at a reception in Ottawa yesterday evening. The recipients will be featured in a social media campaign during National Electricity Month in June.

"Saskatchewan is getting ready for an electric future, and Lara Ludwig has been essential to this. To get building we need an informed public, who understand the challenges ahead?and the ways those challenges can be solved. That takes a special kind of insight, and even courage, to press ahead and engage in sometimes tough conversations. But that's how you move the needle. That's how you bring about the energy transition?through the leadership of people like Lara. Electricity Canada is proud to have Lara Ludwig as one of the first recipients of our Faces of the Industry award.

-  Francis Bradley, President and CEO, Electricity Canada

"Lara is a remarkable leader in this industry. While SaskPower engages on all its major projects, future supply engagement is the largest outreach project we have undertaken. In total, Lara and the team have reached 60,000 Saskatchewan people and engaged them in meaningful conversations about our shared power future."

-  Rupen Pandya, President and CEO, SaskPower

Founded in 1891, Electricity Canada (formerly the Canadian Electricity Association) is the national forum and voice of the evolving and innovative electricity business in Canada. The Association supports, through its advocacy efforts, the regional, national, and international success of its members. Electricity Canada members generate, transmit, and distribute electrical energy to industrial, commercial, residential, and institutional customers across Canada. Members include integrated electric utilities, independent power producers, transmission and distribution companies, power marketers, and system operators, who together deliver electricity to all Canadians, in every province and territory.

SOURCE Electricity Canada