If you needed further proof that the decarbonization of the economy is going off the rails in Quebec, here it is.
We learned last week that the Bécancour industrial park will be powered by natural gas. This park in which the Legault government wants to manufacture the “greenest in the world” battery components for electric cars.
Burning gas to prevent cars from burning gas – the least we can say is that it raises questions.
The problem is that it is extremely difficult to get answers.
Is natural gas really necessary on site? If so, shouldn’t renewable natural gas, which is less polluting, be imposed there? And how will we achieve carbon neutrality if even new industrial installations add to our emissions?
Good luck figuring this out. Independent experts, environmentalists, the government, Énergir… No one has the same vision or the same explanations.
We have already advocated, in these screens, for a state company to oversee the energy transition1. A company that would provide independent advice on the best ways to achieve our climate goals while maximizing economic and social benefits.
What is happening in Bécancour once again demonstrates the need for such an agency.
According to current plans, the Bécancour battery sector would consume 30 to 53 million cubic meters of natural gas each year. This would generate GHGs equivalent to what at least 10,000 gas-powered cars emit.
Admittedly, it’s not much. According to Quebec, the GM-POSCO plant in Bécancour will eventually produce components capable of powering between 150,000 and 300,000 electric vehicles per year. It is also true that similar installations in North America are much more polluting.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Premier François Legault announces an investment for the production of battery components for electric cars in Bécancour on May 29.
Are these emissions nevertheless inevitable?
Good luck evaluating it.
Quebec maintains that there will be “impossible” industrial processes to electrify in the battery sector, hence the need to burn natural gas.
We know, however, how easy the word “impossible” is to brandish when we do not want to bother to review the good old ways of doing things.
Jacques Harvey, consultant in energy and industrial decarbonization, sees only one industrial process difficult to electrify in the future industrial park of Bécancour: the production of lithium hydroxide, which Nemaska Lithium should take care of.
Énergir tells us that it already has six potential customers on site. Several factories want to have gas for “redundancy” in the event of a power failure. Aren’t there other less polluting solutions?
Nobody, in any case, seems to have made the exercise of minimizing the use of natural gas in Bécancour. In 2023, it’s an aberration – especially for such a project, which should be an environmental showcase.
Another contentious point concerns renewable natural gas.
This gas, produced for example from food waste, has a much smaller footprint than natural gas of fossil origin. For now, it accounts for less than 2% of the natural gas circulating in the Énergir network.
Several experts point out that it should be reserved for uses that cannot be electrified, such as the production of lithium hydroxide, which will take place in Bécancour.
However, Énergir does precisely the opposite. It wants to impose renewable natural gas on all its new residential, commercial and institutional customers from 2024. However, they have an alternative solution at hand: heating with electricity.
Énergir disputes this, but it seems to us a very funny way of allocating resources. Again, independent lighting would be valuable.
Finally, let’s underline the irony of seeing the government of Quebec dismiss green hydrogen out of hand to supply Bécancour. Too expensive and too greedy in electricity, we are told. Not so long ago, however, François Legault saw this solution in his soup – proof that political discourse is not always based on rigorous analysis.
The Legault government repeats that it wants to make Quebec “the first carbon neutral state in North America”. In this context, it is normal to raise flags when new factories add to emissions, without a decarbonization strategy.
Strongly a conductor for the energy transition.