Connection to the main network | Hydro-Québec decarbonizes a first autonomous network

The village of La Romaine and the Innu community of Unamen Shipu, on the Lower North Shore, now have access to “green” electricity.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

Hydro-Quebec has just completed the connection to its main network of the autonomous network of these two communities located at the mouth of the Romaine River, which were until now supplied by a diesel thermal power plant, the state-owned company will announce on Tuesday. .

The construction of a line with a voltage of 34.5 kilovolts 75 kilometers from Pointe-Parent made it possible to connect to the Hydro-Québec network this hitherto autonomous network which serves some 1,400 inhabitants.

However, the local distribution network conversion work will not be completed until next summer, so that only a third of customers are currently supplied by this new line and, therefore, by renewable energy.

Ultimately, the connection of this autonomous network will make it possible to avoid the consumption of nearly 4 million liters of diesel per year and the emission of some 10,000 tons of greenhouse gases (GHG), which is equivalent to the pollution generated by 2,500 gasoline-powered vehicles, calculates Hydro-Quebec.

“Major Milestone”

“The commissioning of this line is a major milestone in achieving our objectives of converting our off-grid networks to cleaner and cheaper energy sources while ensuring service quality and social acceptability”, said in a press release Éric Filion, executive vice-president and chief operating officer and customer experience officer of the state-owned company.

Hydro-Québec aims to decarbonize 80% of its off-grid networks by 2030 – these electricity production and distribution networks are not connected to the main grid due to their remoteness or isolation.

These represent less than 1% of Hydro-Québec’s production, but are responsible for approximately 43% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

The state-owned company operates about twenty of them, mostly in Inuit villages in northern Quebec, but also further south, such as the Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

The latter must also be connected to the main network, by deploying an undersea cable. In the meantime, two wind turbines have been installed in the archipelago to reduce the amount of fossil energy used to power it.