Last July, Hydro-Québec and Énergir announced a new partnership aimed at electrifying the heating of buildings and, from there, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This partnership is unique in the world: with dual energy, two “competing” companies will work together with the common goal of reducing the GHG emissions of more than 100,000 customers who currently heat with natural gas, by 2030. Several questions have been raised over the past few days in the public arena regarding this joint initiative, and we believe it is important to provide certain clarifications.
The energy transition and the reduction of GHGs represent a huge challenge and significant costs for our society. They will generate an increase in the demand for electricity, but the price of this resource will also increase, particularly during peak periods during the extreme cold of winter.
It is therefore essential to act to reduce these costs, and the dual-energy offer combining electricity and natural gas proposed by Hydro-Québec and Énergir constitutes a concrete and effective solution to quickly replace approximately 70% of natural gas consumption. participating customers. The principle is simple: the vast majority of the time, heating will be done by electricity while, in very cold weather, natural gas will take over, which will relieve the Hydro-Québec network.
Full electrification would also present major technical challenges and significant costs, since it adds nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) to peak demand. As a power deficit is forecast for 2030, these combined loads would correspond to more than twice the installed power of the La Romaine complex (1550 MW). The dual-energy offer therefore saves Quebec society nearly $1.7 billion compared to an all-electric scenario, which would have had a much greater impact on prices.
The agreement between Hydro-Québec and Énergir will reduce the impact on the rates of the customers of the two distributors while reducing GHGs by 540,000 tonnes of CO equivalent2 by 2030. In fact, the Government of Quebec has indicated its support for this offer by a decree of economic, social and environmental concerns and has made it a strategy of its Plan for a green economy.
This partnership is therefore essential to decarbonize the heating of buildings quickly at the best cost for society, in a context where the value of our energy and its efficient use must be at the heart of our decisions.