The news being particularly busy with the conviction of Donald Trump, the announcement on the same day of the takeover of the wind sector by Hydro-Québec was quickly classified as a news item. However, this is one of the rare cultural changes since the existence of our state enterprise and the nationalization of hydroelectricity.
With the publication of its 2035 Plan, we already knew that Hydro-Québec wanted to more than triple wind production in the province within ten years. More precisely, Hydro-Québec must add 1,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power to its fleet each year within 10 years to reach its target of 10,000 MW. The pace will have to be five times faster than that of the last 20 years.
In itself, this is major. In a decade, we propose to carry out a more ambitious project than that of James Bay, in a social context more forbidding to large electricity production and transport projects. But the announcement of May 31 offers another revolution. From now on, the state company intends to be the prime contractor for most of the new wind projects in Quebec, whereas it is the private sector which has mainly been so for 20 years, by call for tenders. Quite a change of direction.
How does Hydro justify becoming the project manager? For three reasons, essentially, says its CEO Michael Sabia, who believes that social acceptability is “the key to the success” of this ambition. He’s not wrong. However, there is no guarantee that Hydro-Québec will be able to better manage the lack of transparency and the methods of promoters and local elected officials, which would contribute to creating division in communities. The history of hydroelectric developments has repeatedly demonstrated that centralization of decisions is no guarantee of success. What can we say about the sagas of the construction of transmission lines?
To (re)read: our file on wind energy
Hydro has the ability to reduce costs, on the one hand through economies of scale and on the other hand by having better borrowing capacities. Fine, but the administrative burden of this electricity giant risks canceling out these economic gains.
In fact, there is a fundamental reason which justifies the management of the wind sector by Hydro-Québec: the optimal integration of wind energy into the existing network, avoiding as much as possible the construction of new transmission lines, by aligning with local demand, ensuring the stability of the network in real time and by planning horizon, and of course by optimizing the existing hydraulic network.
It can’t be done on the corner of the table on a piece of paper. Network management has just taken an unexpected turn. The modeling challenge is immense.
Launched by Sophie Brochu, this shift in favor of wind power has just been masterfully consecrated by Michael Sabia. For the pioneers that we have been since the beginning of our work in 1996 on the optimal integration of wind energy into a hydraulic network, it was time for our large state corporation and the Legault government to finally understand common sense. No more wasting time bickering to obtain data or to prove the interest of wind power here.
The challenges do not only concern social acceptability, but also the establishment of high-level professionals who will study all the consequences of an operation as ambitious as that of adding 10,000 MW of wind power to the network. Rigor is essential.