Everything goes very quickly in Bécancour. Despite the setbacks of Northvolt and the slowdown in the battery industry, Quebec is investing hundreds of millions of dollars and the projects here are well and truly coming to fruition. Far from the spotlight, the company which manages this industrial park south of Trois-Rivières has just completed the sanitary connection of five battery factories and very recently launched a major project to expand its port.
The government has nicknamed the region “Energy Transition Valley”. In Bécancour, the battery sector is so concentrated that we could point to the crossroads of the energy transition. Indeed, three enormous battery factories are emerging from the ground at the intersection of two lanes in the industrial park. Not far from there, the construction of two other similar buildings is planned.
“Here, we have five projects under construction, two mature projects and two non-mature projects,” sums up Donald Olivier, president and CEO of the Bécancour Industrial and Port Park Company (SPIPB), with a smile.
The difficulties of the giant Northvolt do not tell the whole story of Quebec batteries, he said. In this industrial park — the only one owned by the Quebec government — the battery industry is taking root at high speed.
For example, Nemaska Lithium, 50% owned by the government via the injection of $300 million by Investissement Québec, is doing well. Its Bécancour plant is 45% built, and the commissioning of a mine in northern Quebec is still planned for 2026.
The same goes for Ultium Cam, Bécancour’s most advanced project. Its administrative building welcomed the first employees this week, and the adjacent factory structure is already completed. The schedule for the company to supply GM with its first battery components next year still stands.
The progress of the other big name, EcoPro, experienced some hiccups in the summer. Two stoppages have affected the construction of the Quebec factory which will ultimately be used to supply Ford with batteries. A “redesign” of the assembly line was necessary, following which the site was restarted at the start of the week.
This type of interruption does not worry Donald Olivier. This former Hydro-Québec employee was one of the architects of the closure of the Gentilly nuclear power plants. “Accustomed to complex projects”, he sees nothing abnormal in the changes of plan. “A project is an obstacle course. »
Some of the factories currently under construction in Bécancour experienced financing difficulties initially, just like Northvolt. Once installed in Quebec, they will not leave, affirms the civil engineer by training. “The pandemic has made businesses aware. They want to shorten and secure their supply chains. » With mines in the North and customers south of the border, Quebec still holds a special place.
If all the offers from companies eyeing a corner of Bécancour were accepted, all the land in the park would already be sold, claims Donald Olivier. “We are having discussions on all grounds. You still have to choose the right projects. »
Following on in ideas
It’s not just businesses that invest in Bécancour. In the summer, the Industrial Park Company completed the construction of long sections of pipeline intended to supply future assembly lines.
This is without counting the construction of a few kilometers of railway, kilometers of asphalt for service roads as well as various pipes to be buried. “For our part, at the Parc Société, that’s $350 million in infrastructure work to be done, regardless of their investments. The challenge we had is that if they want to put it into service in 2025, we have to finish before them. You always have to finish before them. Our team is under pressure. »
As if that were not enough, to these 350 million dollars are added another 320 million, which will be used to expand the port. SPIPB in fact launched, two weeks ago, a vast project which will facilitate the naval transit of goods. These funds, to which Quebec has already contributed more than 200 million, will allow the addition of a wharf and the extension of another.
The SPIPB begins this expansion with the studies stage. We do not plan to begin work for a few years.
All these construction sites encroach on wetlands and fish spawning grounds in the St. Lawrence, recognizes Donald Olivier. Except that his team planned it. It plans to convert 200 hectares of land at the mouth of the Bécancour River into a protected environment. “That’s the example of doing things correctly,” he says.
All these investments are based on a solid set-up, assures the SPIPB representative. “We could have two, three or four difficult years without being at risk. » This period of difficulty seems unlikely since other investments could soon be announced.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.