TES Canada | MRCs feel forgotten by wind development

Two MRCs that were to host the large TES Canada wind farm in Mauricie did not have the opportunity to become partners in the project and receive their share of the profits from the sale of energy like the other MRCs in Quebec.

The special treatment given to TES Canada, which will be able to build a private 800-megawatt wind farm to power a hydrogen plant, was recently denounced by elected officials from the municipalities concerned during a public meeting.

The Mauricie communities that will host TES Canada’s wind turbines on their territory will receive royalties from the company, but it would be much more financially interesting to be associated with the project, according to elected officials from the municipalities concerned.

Elected officials even met with Dave Rhéaume, executive vice-president of Hydro-Québec, to find out if it would be possible for the local community to be a partner in a wind project to sell the electricity produced to Hydro-Québec, which could then supply the TES Canada hydrogen plant.

This wind development model that partners with local communities is the one favored by Hydro-Québec. It has just been reaffirmed with the agreement concluded by the Crown corporation with two Indigenous communities and the MRC of Domaine-du-Roy, which will become 50% co-owners of the wind farms that will be built in Lac-Saint-Jean. These partners will receive an equivalent portion of the profits expected from the operation of the wind farms.

Éric Blouin, mayor of the village of Sainte-Thècle, which is part of the MRC of Mékinac, was among those who recently met with Hydro-Québec’s number two to find out if it was possible to do the same thing. “They’re not closing the door,” he said from the meeting.

For his part, the prefect of the MRC des Chenaux, Guy Veillette, emphasizes that he was informed of the TES Canada project the day before the public announcement. If local communities had been involved in the project from the beginning, they could have joined in, according to him. “It would certainly have made a difference in terms of social acceptability,” he says, while the project deeply divides citizens.

He admits that it could have made a difference financially for municipalities that are desperately looking for new sources of revenue. “On condition that they don’t sell the electricity to the company, but have a long-term contract with Hydro-Québec,” he says.

Guy Veillette believes that it is too late to change the trajectory of a project that did not come from Hydro-Québec, but “which was pushed on the political level.”

The Minister of Energy even called the project “magical,” recalls the prefect. “We just hope that the magician does not disappear and leave us with the problems.”

The day and the night

The difference between royalties and profit sharing is night and day, explains Michel Lagacé, prefect of the MRC of Rivière-du-Loup and chairman of the board of directors of the Alliance de l’énergie de l’Est.

The Alliance brings together 209 communities in eastern Quebec that actively participate in development by partnering with private developers to establish wind farms.

He gives the example of the MRCs that are partners in a wind farm in operation in eastern Quebec, which receive 1.5 million annually in royalties and 7.5 million in net profits each year.

According to Michel Lagacé, it is not surprising that private developers have been slow to agree to share the profits of long-term contracts concluded with Hydro-Québec with local communities. There is a lot of money to be raised for municipalities, with minimal risk.

Municipalities must finance their share of the project, but given the expected profits, the risks are very low, he says.

“Today, no private developer thinks they can do wind projects in the absence of municipal communities,” assures Michel Lagacé. “TES Canada is an exception.”