Culture & Community

On a sunny fall day, a group of AIMCo clients toured the sprawling Genesee Generating Station, west of Edmonton. From the roof of the Capital Power facility, the group could see kilometres of transmission lines that stretch across open fields and clusters of trees, carrying electricity outward — eventually powering lights, computers and appliances in homes across the region.  

The clients who took part in this tour with AIMCo’s Client Management team got to see, first-hand, how a public equity investment translates into real-world impact.

Genesee is a critical baseload facility, with three natural gas units capable of generating more than 1,800 MW of electricity. It plays a vital role in Alberta’s power system, supporting reliability for households, businesses and essential services.

While explaining an investment often involves the presentation of financial models and performance data, seeing the physical assets behind such numbers reinforces the long‑term, tangible nature of the investment. Genesee is not an abstract holding — it is infrastructure that underpins daily life in Alberta.

AIMCo has made two significant investments in Capital Power in recent years, supporting the company’s growth in Alberta and across North America. Visits like this help connect portfolio decisions to outcomes, strengthening understanding and trust.  

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High in Chile’s Atacama Desert, on a remote plateau far from urban light pollution, a groundbreaking scientific project is taking shape. The European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), now under construction, will be the world’s largest ground based optical and near infrared telescope, poised to help astronomers unlock new discoveries about the universe.

Through a long-term infrastructure investment, AIMCo will play a small but meaningful role in the project. A company co-owned by AIMCo is set to supply the power for this global endeavour.

Grupo SAESA is one of Chile’s biggest utility companies and AIMCo has owned a 50% stake in the company since 2011, alongside the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Over more than 15 years, AIMCo and its partners have supported SAESA’s growth, strategic acquisitions and operational expansion across the country.

But supplying the power for the ELT is a different kind of project with unique parameters. The telescope and observatory will draw approximately 5 MW at peak demand, requiring exceptional reliability and precise voltage regulation in one of the world’s most remote regions.

SAESA was willing to work closely with the European Southern Observatory, which is building the telescope, and local authorities to design and deliver the required infrastructure.

Through their roles on the SAESA asset management team, AIMCo colleagues Jon Reay, Ariel Wang, and Steven Biggs visited the impressive site in November 2025.

“Seeing the sheer scale of the project is pretty amazing,” says Reay, a senior director on AIMCo’s Infrastructure team. “It’s exciting to think about the possibility of new discoveries we could play a small part in.”

When completed, the ELT’s 39‑metre primary mirror will be four times larger than today’s biggest optical telescopes. The first scientific observations to be made from the telescope are expected in 2030 and will mark a new era of discovery through ground-based astronomy.  

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When Alejandro Coy started working at AIMCo as a data developer in 2021, it was years before people were weaving ChatGPT or Copilot into their online lives.

At the time, AIMCo didn’t have a dedicated data and AI team. But Alejandro had a passion for data science and knew the field would continue to evolve and expand — maybe beyond what he could imagine at the time.

He soon signed up for a master’s in data science degree from the University of Texas at Austin with support from AIMCo’s Skills Development and Educational Assistance (SDEA) program. He would spend the next four years working on the degree, balancing his studies with his full-time job.

That kind of professional development support is one of the reasons AIMCo was named, for the 12^th year, one of Alberta’s Top Employers, while it also remains on the list of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People.

Alejandro, now a Director of Data Enablement, believes the knowledge he gained through his master’s degree is enabling him to better lead the team that bridges business and technology functions at AIMCo.

“The world of AI is changing all the time, so I need myself and my team to be upskilled. I think the SDEA program reflects the commitment of AIMCo to grow talent inside the organization,” he says.

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In Edmonton’s downtown core, Sophia Mejia works with a demographic for whom access to quality financial empowerment education can be difficult. At the Bissell Centre, she supports people with very low incomes as they move out of poverty.

For those who are unhoused or living on social assistance, financial decisions can affect every part of their lives. Through grant funding from the AIMCo Foundation for Financial Education, frontline staff at the Bissell Centre are trained to address the many financial issues that clients need help to navigate.

“Financial education overlaps with lots of things,” says Mejia. She notes that a client might need something as basic as proper identification to apply for the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) benefit — a vital step for creating stability.  

Since its inception in 2018, the AIMCo Foundation has delivered more than $2.5 million in grants and scholarships in Alberta. The grants support non-profit organizations that advance financial literacy in the province, while the scholarships support students studying business and finance at Alberta post-secondary institutions.

Thanks to outstanding fundraising efforts led by AIMCo colleagues, the registered charity delivered more than $350,000 during its latest granting cycle, with funds going to 21 Alberta-based financial literacy initiatives, including programs that help seniors, youth, newcomers, and people with disabilities.  

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