Purchase of Brookfield’s production in Outaouais for 40 years | Hydro-Québec increases its reserves

Hydro-Québec will buy all the production from Brookfield Renewable’s hydroelectric power stations in the Outaouais for the next 40 years, in order to meet the growing demand for electricity.

Helene Baril
The Press

The energy price has not been made public. The transaction concerns 263 megawatts (MW) of energy, equivalent to the consumption of 90,000 homes.

The agreement reached with Evolugen, a Canadian subsidiary of Brookfield, will help Hydro-Québec meet peak demand in the winter, said Pierre Despars, Vice-President Corporate Strategies and Business Development at the Crown corporation.

“This strategic agreement allows us to add power and renewable energy to our supplies in a context where demand in Quebec and neighboring markets is growing,” he said in a press release.

In fact, the energy from the four power stations located along the Lièvre River, in the Outaouais, has already been delivered to Hydro-Québec since last December 31. The facilities therefore helped the Crown corporation meet Quebec’s needs during the month of January that just ended, when the cold weather pushed demand up to historic levels.

In addition to the energy produced by the power stations, Hydro-Québec is acquiring Brookfield’s priority transmission rights to New England, which will enable it to increase its exports to this market.

Brookfield Renewable and Hydro-Quebec were sort of competitors in the New England market, where the output of the four Outaouais power stations was exported.

For Evolugen, it is an “agreement with a long-time partner”, according to Josée Guibord, CEO of the Canadian subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable.

“This agreement is a local and sustainable way for Hydro-Québec to meet the growing demand for renewable electricity it is facing,” she said.

Evolugen in Canada

In Canada, Evolugen owns and operates 33 hydroelectric power stations, 4 wind farms and 24 solar farms, for a total installed capacity of 1912 MW.

The facilities whose production will be intended for Hydro-Québec for the next 40 years are the Masson, Dufferin, High Falls and Rapide-des-Cèdres hydroelectric power stations, with a total capacity of 263 MW.

According to Pierre Despars, “the opportunity to acquire the production of reliable, operating and already connected hydroelectric power stations was attractive in many respects”.

Hydro-Québec predicts that electricity demand will increase by 12% by 2029, in particular due to the electrification of the economy. To cope with this faster-than-expected increase barely a year ago, the state-owned company launched two calls for tenders to buy from private producers a 480 MW block of renewable energy and another of 300 MW of wind power, for delivery in 2026.

With the transaction concluded with Brookfield, nearly 1,000 MW will be added to Hydro-Québec’s balance sheet.