As the consultations on the development of the hydrogen and bioenergy sectors begin, the Quebec government plans to inject “hundreds of millions, or even over a billion” of dollars to stimulate these forms of energy. by 2030, according to information from To have to.
In the coming years, the government intends to considerably increase the financial assistance offered to the hydrogen and bioenergy sectors, these energies produced from organic materials. “It will be in the order of hundreds of millions, even beyond a billion [de dollars] “, Evokes a government source well aware of the proceedings, who can not comment on the matter publicly.
The precise amounts should be communicated this spring when the strategy on green hydrogen and bioenergy is unveiled. The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources launched a public consultation last Friday to refine this strategy, which should define “the main orientations in order to make Quebec a world leader in this area”.
In its Plan for a Green Economy 2030, published in November 2020, the government maintains that it wants to position itself as a “leader in the production” of green hydrogen and bioenergy. “The development of the green hydrogen sector will require significant investments from the private sector. The government will have to reassure investors by creating a stable and predictable economic context, ”we read.
In its last budget, Quebec allocated $ 20 million for the deployment of Quebec’s first green hydrogen and bioenergy strategy. More recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources created an office for the development of green hydrogen and bioenergy in order to “plan and coordinate the deployment of these sectors”.
The development of these sectors requires significant investments from the private and public sectors, according to Michel Archambault, president of Hydrogen Quebec, an association that brings together companies from the industry: “Developing technologies and deploying infrastructures are challenges. to meet who ask for money. Initially, there is little predictability either on the volume of production or on what the demand will be. “
This explains, according to him, the considerable investments observed in Europe and the United States. On November 15, US President Joe Biden signed an infrastructure law that provides for investments of US $ 8 billion in hydrogen.
The “hydrogen fever”
Energy experts interviewed by The duty agree on the fact that hydrogen and bioenergy have their role to play in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The order of the amounts mentioned suggests that the government hopes to make these sectors pillars of its decarbonization strategy.
Holder of the Chair in Energy Sector Management at HEC Montréal, Pierre-Olivier Pineau particularly questions this “hydrogen fever”: “If hydrogen replaces natural gas, the cost of decarbonization comes back roughly. at $ 300 per tonne of GHGs. “Large sums that could be used for more efficient and less expensive projects to reduce GHG emissions,” he believes.
Quebec does not need to rush and invest in the first generation of technologies, including that of electrolysers, according to him: “The second or third generation will be the best. “
He recalled that the advantage of the province lies mainly in its hydroelectricity. “This advantage will still be there in a few years. The real gains in energy production will be energy efficiency and changes in our consumption patterns, ”he says.
Similar questioning from Philippe Dunsky, president of Dunsky Energy + Climate, a consulting firm specializing in energy. “Hydrogen is part of the solution, but for nested industries,” he says, citing examples of steel production and the manufacture of fertilizers, such as ammonia.
The real gains in energy production will be energy efficiency and changes in our consumption patterns
As part of the fight against climate change, “electricity should take the lion’s share, and electrification should not be made unnecessarily difficult by choosing to favor hydrogen where it is not. not the most efficient ”. Investments in hydrogen and bioenergy should represent the place they will occupy in decarbonization, he said.
In an energy analysis published in June, the Dunsky firm predicts that hydrogen will represent about 3% of total energy consumption in Quebec in 2050, ie a “relatively small portion of the overall energy balance”. Bioenergy could represent 14% while electricity would climb to 71% of the energy balance in the province.