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37| O akville B eaver | T hursday,M ay 31,2018 insidehalton.com Oakville's downtown may soon see fewer power outages, thanks to invest- ment from Ontario's Smart Grid Fund. Oakville Hydro an- nounced May 17 that it has received support from the provincial program, which seeks to advance the devel- opment of cutting-edge technologies that will make electricity systems run better and empower customers with more choice and control over their power use. Oakville Hydro will in- vest this funding in two in- novative projects. The first involves auto- mating downtown Oak- ville's grid. Oakville Hydro staff said they would install an advanced, automatic res- toration system on the electrical distribution sys- tem in downtown Oakville. They said this smart grid system automatically reconfigures the grid after a fault and quickly re- stores service, limiting or eliminating power outag- es. The automatic restora- tion system will be inte- grated with the advanced distribution management system in Oakville Hydro's control centre, a move in- tended to enhance opera- tional awareness and grid resiliency. Oakville Hydro staff said the corporation would also invest in deploying a unified data platform that presents information from various utility systems in one view to enable in- formed decision-making.formed decision-making.f They said the platform would provide an electri- cal network model, lever- aging metering and opera- tional data to drive evi- dence-based engineering planning and analysis. Downtown Oakville may soon see fewer power outages, thanks to province's Smart Grid Fund Oakville Hydro Metroland photo Five Oakville women and girls who have demon- strated leadership and achieved much in the com- munity they serve were re- cently recognized for their efforts. The recognitions were part of Oakville MPP's an- nual Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Communities event, held on May 4 at the Oakville Museum at the Erchless Estate. Kevin Flynn said the event is one he looks for- ward to hosting as he learns of the "exceptional efforts of local women." "This event serves as not only a means to ho- nour the winners, but an opportunity for advocates of our community to come together and establish partnerships with other activists," he said. Carole Holmes and Dr. Zeba Ansari were awarded Leading Women certifi- cates while Aiza Abid, Leanne Bishop and Janvi Pathak were recognized as Leading Girls. Holmes first started her advocacy work in 1981 when she became one of the founders of the Women of Halton Action Move- ment. Since then, she has worked in a variety of ca- pacities to spearhead women's rights in Oak- ville. In 2005, she founded Oo- mama, an organization in support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grand- mothers to Grandmothers campaign, which raises awareness and support for African grandmothers who become responsible for their grandchildren or-for their grandchildren or-f phaned or made vulnera- ble due to HIV/AIDS. Holmes also spearhead- ed Terra Firma Halton, a private sponsorship group in support of Syrian new- comer families, worked with the Grandmothers NEWS Leading women, girls recognized for efforts JOHN BKILA jbkila@metroland.com Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn (centre) honoured five local women and girls for their achievements in the community. Clockwise, from bottom left are Carole Holmes, Aiza Abid, Leanne Bishop, Dr. Zeba Ansari and Flynn. Not in photo is Janvi Pathak. Office of Oakville MPP photo l See BISHOP, page 46 PLE AS E R EC YC LE OU R P AP ER