“If we had electricity we would have been there, but we didn’t have it,” Secretary of Commerce Pierre Fitzgibbon said after last Monday’s announcement of a multi-billion dollar mega battery factory in Ontario.
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“Last spring, we could not follow up on Volkswagen’s terms, which required significant land near Montreal, which was dezoned, and above all the electricity connection, which we did not have,” said the Minister for Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE ), Pierre Fitzgibbon in an interview with Gérald Fillion on Radio-Canada.
“Volkswagen will need around 800 to 900 megawatts over the next seven years. It was impossible for us to give it, so unfortunately we had to give up the project,” he added.
Photo archive Joël Lemay / Agency QMI
On Monday noon, Federal Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne announced in Montreal that Volkswagen will build its multi-billion dollar battery mega-factory on the Ontario side, in St. Thomas.
In an interview with Radio-Canada on Tuesday, Secretary of Commerce Pierre Fitzgibbon reiterated the importance of emerging industry to Quebec.
A cell phone soon?
According to the minister, the battery sector continues its work, particularly on the Bécancour campus, and other announcements will follow shortly.
“We’d like a basement. We won’t have two. We will only have one because it is very demanding on the energy needs,” he elaborated.
Pierre Fitzgibbon recalls that Quebec “will produce cathodes and anodes that actually represent almost 65% of a cell’s value”.
He believes Quebec is building an industry that will last for generations to come.
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