The race for wind power megawatts in Quebec does not only mobilize the private sector. The RCMs want their share of wind benefits and are actively preparing for Hydro-Québec’s next call for tenders. An eagerness which however raises questions about the consultation of the affected populations.
“People have to get ready quickly,” says Michel Lagacé, president of the Energy and Natural Resources Commission of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM). An ardent defender of regional participation in wind power projects, the prefect of the MRC de Rivière-du-Loup points out that the Roncevaux and Nicolas-Rioux wind farms give Gaspésie and Bas-Saint-Laurent “13.5 million in profits and royalties per year.
“When the decrees are announced, we have to meet private promoters and let them know that we are interested in partnering with them,” he says.
The Government of Quebec will soon launch a new call for tenders to fill 4,000 megawatts with wind energy, and the FQM intends to ensure that its members do not miss the boat. The municipal group has even created a wind power “expertise office” to support RCMs that wish to participate. Negotiation assistance, legal advice, everything is there to create winning conditions.
The FQM would have liked more RCMs to participate in the last call for tenders for 2021-2022 in wind power (300 MW) and renewable energies (480 MW). Twenty-four MRCs have submitted projects, but the majority were already involved in the wind power sector before that, deplores the organization.
“Communities that were not already organized had little time to put in place all the conditions that would allow them to negotiate and possibly participate, with private producers, in calls for tenders”, deplores the group in a November 2022 document on the findings of the first calls for tenders.
It is in this context that out of the 87 RCMs in Quebec, about twenty have entered into contracts with the FQM’s expertise office. For the latter, these projects come with the promise of attractive new sources of income, points out Mr. Lagacé. “Cities have wanted, for several years, to seek financial levers other than through property taxation. Becoming a partner with wind companies, seeking profits, it is clear that this has an immediate impact on municipal finances. »
The MRC du Fjord, in Lac-Saint-Jean, has been working with the expertise office for several months. “Wind power is of great interest to us,” explains Prefect Gérald Savard. We have done wind studies on the Monts Valin side, on the Bas-Saguenay side as well. There are possibilities with operators. »
A decision made too quickly
The MRC des Sources, in Estrie, is also among the candidates. Located in northern Estrie, the MRC des Sources has as its capital the municipality of Val-des-Sources (formerly Asbestos). It has a lot of agricultural land and has positioned itself as a model of sustainable development.
On January 25, the Council of Mayors adopted a resolution requesting the services of the FQM’s Wind Energy Expertise Office.
However, the approach is not unanimous among elected officials. The mayor of Sainte-Camille, Philippe Pagé, judges that the MRC proceeded much too quickly and that the population should have been consulted beforehand. “We had a week to decide whether to sign an agreement with the FQM when we had never discussed wind power development on our territory before. »
The mayor, who was a candidate for Québec solidaire in the last election, points out that the elected officials were notified on January 18 that they were going to have to vote on this during the session of the 25th. “It’s going too fast. On the contrary, we risk robbing people rather than making them partners. I don’t want to criticize wind power, but rather [remettre en question] our way of making decisions. »
After the vote, the mayor denounced the situation in the local media, then, on Monday, the council of Sainte-Camille adopted a resolution to formalize his criticisms. Philippe Pagé questions the relevance of debating these issues at the MRC level. “The MRCs are a level of governance that is still far from the people. »
MRCs are regional groups of municipalities in rural areas. Most are headed by a prefect chosen from among the mayors of the member towns. They meet at least once every two months and their responsibilities relate to land use planning, economic development and shared facilities.
“Going through the MRCs to manage these projects is not necessarily the best way to make life easier for those who want to follow up on these files,” says the mayor of Sainte-Camille. I really don’t know many people who follow what is happening in their MRC to the point of reading the minutes, consulting the agendas and being present on site. [aux réunions]. »
Invited to react to this outing, the prefect of the MRC and mayor of Val-des-Sources, Hugues Grimard, did not want to speak with The duty. In an interview with Radio-Canada Estrie the day after the vote, he said “that it was not necessary to consult the population at this stage of the project”, according to him. “It’s not an end in itself. It is the start of a process. There will be citizen information evenings organized when we have the knowledge. For me, I want to be able to answer the questions that people will ask me. Currently, I have no knowledge of this file. »
The call for tenders formula in question
For social acceptability consultant Marie-Ève Maillé, MRCs should be cautious in these matters. “The usual method of ‘decide, announce, defend’, it doesn’t work. It is a risk that policy makers and developers take. It can elicit an outcry, and once the shields are up, it’s very hard to bring them down. »
Mme Maillé did his doctorate on the issues of social acceptability posed by the Éoliennes de l’Érable project in the Centre-du-Québec region ten years ago. Wind turbine projects are particularly at risk, she also mentions. “You have to bear in mind the impact on the landscape, the encroachment on agricultural land…”
But paradoxically, even if the MRC had wanted to consult its population upstream, it could not have done so because of the deadlines imposed by Hydro-Québec, concedes the consultant.
According to Mme Maillé, the current call for tenders formula should be completely reviewed, because it “does not encourage informing and consulting the communities upstream, two stages that take time and are expensive, since the project is not not sure,” she continues. “As if the decision-makers were saying to themselves: ‘We’ll see if we’re selected and then we’ll see what the population thinks of it’, but at that point, the project is selected by Hydro-Québec, it becomes difficult to do reverse course if the host communities do not want it. »
The prefect of the MRC du Fjord does not agree. “Each time there is a major project in Quebec, whether it is a mine or something else, there is a BAPE. This is where it happens, says Mr. Savard. Before going to consult, it is necessary to document. We need knowledge about what we are capable of doing. You have to be prepared to present it. »
Asked about this, Michel Lagacé replies that there will be even less social acceptability if the MRCs do not participate in the projects at all. “We are already consulting our populations in connection with the development plans. With the modifications to the zoning changes, the populations are consulted from several angles regarding the projects that may take place in our RCMs. »
The FQM is also asking the government to require the RCMs to be partners in these future calls for tenders in wind power. “To ensure the development of the energy sector in Quebec, the government must make the participation of the local community mandatory in all renewable energy projects,” said the organization in its November 2022 brief.
When asked about this, the state-owned company pointed out that in the last call for tenders in renewable energy, promoters who had the support of the community already received additional points.
The last call for tenders in wind power, which was to be launched in December, has been postponed by the government in anticipation of the launch of a new call for tenders, which would be imminent. Hydro-Québec still claims to aim for a launch in early 2023. Since it generally gives candidates six months to submit their projects, it can be assumed that the submission of projects will be required during the summer.