To move faster in building wind farms, Hydro-Québec last year relaxed two selection criteria previously considered essential: social acceptability and Quebec content.
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We learn this from a presentation that the state-owned company made in January 2023 to the Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, and which was obtained by Le Journal.
“The existing criteria will be further developed to better reflect the reality of Hydro and the industry,” the confidential document said.
“The chosen model of unregulated tendering will allow for a more efficient and optimal wind supply than the traditional model,” argues Hydro-Québec.
More “flexibility” for organizers
Result: “greater flexibility [pour les] Promoter,” we specify.
The most noticeable change is this: “No mandatory Quebec or regional content,” the Hydro document says.
In the tender for 1,500 megawatts of wind energy that the state-owned company launched in March 2023, there was actually no requirement for Quebec and regional content.
However, in the 2021 wind tenders, project promoters had to include at least 50% “Quebec share”, including preferably 35% “regional share”.
The same rule applied to the wind tenders planned for 2022, but these were canceled at the last minute.
“Economic nationalism”
“This will enable faster deployment,” Mr Fitzgibbon said in December 2022.
Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon Screenshot TVA NEWS/AGENCE QMI
“If we simply try to reduce costs without enriching ourselves collectively, it is a breach of the original commitments of economic nationalism,” laments PQ MP Pascal Bérubé.
At Hydro-Québec, we emphasize that the project analysis grids give 12 out of 100 points for local content.
“If you don’t have Quebec content, it will be very difficult to qualify,” says spokesman Maxence Huard-Lefebvre.
Social acceptance with the wind
Hydro has also lowered its social acceptability requirements for wind projects. For the 2021 and 2022 tenders, the project sponsors had to obtain consent from the affected municipalities for “unconditional support” of their wind projects.
But in last year's tender, the word “unconditional” disappeared.
“Support [du] The local environment can take the form of “support for principles”; “The parties do not need to agree on all support conditions for the submission of tenders,” the 2023 tender document states.
At the end of the process, Hydro-Québec also announced last month the selection of disputed projects, including one submitted by Boralex in the Arthabaska MRC.
Jean Morin from the Fromagerie du Presbytère in Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick. PHOTO FRANCIS HALIN
“There is a form of social acceptance, but it is biased,” says Jean Morin, a cheesemaker from Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick who campaigned against the project.
“We are very, very far from social acceptance,” adds another opponent, Pascale Boislard, a local councilor in Saint-Albert.
Pascale Boislard Photo from the Saint-Albert municipality website
Hydro assures that the social acceptance of projects is still as important to Hydro as before.
“We wouldn’t be winners […] if projects were accepted that have no social acceptance. “We are the ones who would lose in the end,” stressed Mr. Huard-Lefebvre.
Manufacturing of wind turbines in Quebec
- Marmen: Wind tower factories in Trois-Rivières and Matane
- LM Wind Power: Rotor blade factory for wind turbines in Gaspé
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