This text is taken from the Courrier de l’économie of November 14, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
Hydro-Québec’s electricity comes from 99% renewable energy. Statistically, the Crown corporation is therefore a small percentage point away from being able to claim to offer completely clean electricity. And this is also the argument put forward to attract companies or to sell electrons south of our borders.
But where does this 1% come from? Where does Hydro-Québec’s non-renewable energy come from? Alongside its North American distribution network, the company operates more than twenty off-grid networks that supply electricity to small localities and isolated communities located mainly in Nord-du-Québec and Basse-Côte. -North. These closed circuits take their electricity from thermal power stations, and therefore from hydrocarbons.
However, while thermal power plants represent a tiny part (1%) of Hydro-Québec’s production, they are responsible for 43% of the organization’s greenhouse gas emissions. The latter also wants to convert its networks to an 80% renewable supply by 2030. To do this, some autonomous networks will be connected to the main network, while others could be powered by production from renewable energies.
Rise in demand
The decarbonization of networks is a significant issue, as demand is increasing in several of these regions. In Nunavik — where there are about ten independent networks supplied by thermal power plants — needs have been driven up by population growth. Result: Hydro-Québec had to increase the electrical power of the power stations that serve the communities of Aupaluk, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Ivujivik and Salluit.
But it is in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that the consumption of electricity from non-renewable energy reaches its peaks. The Magdalen Islands autonomous network, which serves 6,600 customers, consumed 38 million liters of fuel oil last year, alone producing 36.5% of the company’s direct GHG emissions. Note: the commissioning of the Dune-du-Nord wind farm in December 2020 has significantly reduced GHG emissions.
Of course, in addition to the off-grid systems, there is the Bécancour gas plant. Built to support the Gentilly nuclear power plant in the event of a breakdown, it can now be seen as a spare wheel for Hydro-Québec, which puts it on the road to meet high demand during winter peaks.
Infrequent, its use is, to say the least, expensive. To meet strong demand, the Bécancour power station was started up 18 times last winter, producing 9,437 MWh of additional electricity, according to documents obtained by The duty. Cost of operations: $3.3 million. On average, Hydro-Québec generally uses the gas-fired power plant eight times a year, for costs that hover around $965,000.
Everything is to be put into application of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan that Hydro-Québec has just adopted after three years of reflection. It contains 26 areas of intervention that consider the design of infrastructures as well as their operation and the safety of workers. It will also have to take into account the increased presence of data centers. With the servers of multinational computer companies — Microsoft, Amazon, Google — looking to decarbonize their operations, the state-owned company predicts that electricity sales to this industry will increase fivefold by 2032.