Energy transition | Municipalities want to produce renewable energy

Hydro-Quebec’s appetite for new megawatts arouses the greed of Quebec municipalities, which want to engage in the production of renewable energy to reduce their dependence on land revenue and attract new businesses.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

The Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) will announce on Tuesday the establishment of a committee that will explore the possibilities available to towns and villages in terms of energy production and recovery.

“We want to pool efforts, share expertise,” explains in an interview with The Press Daniel Côté, president of the UMQ and mayor of Gaspé, who cites the interest generated by the participation of municipal organizations in wind energy production projects in eastern Quebec.

Because in addition to collecting royalties on the energy produced on their territory, the municipalities can be partners in a production project and derive income from it.

In Gaspé, the City derives about 3% of its annual revenue from its participation in various wind farms, illustrates Daniel Côté.

It’s not a miracle solution, but “it’s still interesting,” he says.

Having access to a local source of renewable energy is an “attractive factor for investment”, says the UMQ, since it makes it possible to attract companies that are themselves concerned with reducing their carbon footprint.

Untapped potential

Hydro-Québec’s new export contracts and a new mentality within the Crown corporation are opening up new possibilities for municipalities in terms of energy production, Daniel Côté believes.

“For years, Hydro-Québec talked to us about energy surpluses and did not want to have new energy on its network, but the discourse has changed, there is room for new energy on the network, so there is a timing for us,” he says.

Municipalities fully intend to take advantage of this, especially since the untapped potential is immense.

From forest biomass that is not recycled to landfill biogas that is simply burned in a flare, “there is energy that is currently wasted,” says Daniel Côté.

There is a “craze” for the biomethanation of organic matter which is still largely sent to landfill, he says, but it is the interest in wind power which still dominates.

Solar energy, which is very rare in Quebec, is also expected to develop, estimates the UMQ, noting that the average daily insolation in the south of the province is between 4.2 and 5 kilowatt hours per square meter (kWh /m^⁠2), which is higher than that of Germany, “world market leader in solar photovoltaic energy”.

Recover energy

In addition to producing energy, municipalities are interested in recovering what is wasted.

“In Quebec, about 40% of the energy consumed by large industries is wasted,” says the UMQ.

“Thermal discharges”, for example the heat discharged into the environment by equipment or buildings, therefore represent an important source of energy.

The City of Rimouski has understood this by recovering the heat generated by the compressors that cool the ice rink of its sports center to heat the water in the swimming pool located in the same building, illustrates Daniel Côté.

The UMQ would also like municipalities to be able to produce energy other than electricity, such as biofuels, green hydrogen or “renewable” natural gas, i.e. produced from organic materials or of biomass.

This would require modifying the Municipal Powers Actwhich, according to the UMQ, limits the production of energy by municipalities to the production of electricity from renewable sources.

As with electricity, local production of other types of energy is more advantageous, believes Daniel Côté.

“The closer the energy source is to the consumer, the more convincing it is,” he says. Energy transportation issues and costs are eliminated. »