Do the Liberals really want to push Hydro-Québec into a “death spiral”?
Yesterday in our Make the Difference column, PLQ energy critic Gregory Kelley argued for a bold turnaround for the state-owned company, to say the least.
He believes all Quebecers should be able to produce electricity for themselves using solar panels and sell any surplus to Hydro.
The MP said he dreams of a future in which “Quebecians produce their own renewable and local energy and no longer have to pay a bill to Hydro-Québec.”
Produce locally
At first glance, the proposed model does not lack interest.
With photovoltaic modules, we could generate “enough energy to charge electric vehicles, operate household appliances, and heat and air-condition houses,” argues the MP.
- Listen to the Lavoie-Robitaille meeting with Guillaume Lavoie and Antoine Robitaille QUB radio :
The Journal showed in a recent report that creating this model was more complex than it seems. Even though the cost of panels has fallen, they still take decades to pay for themselves and after that they need to be replaced.
That’s why Kelley is proposing that the Carbon Exchange-funded Green Fund (called the “Electrification and Climate Change Fund” since 2020) subsidize Quebecers when purchasing solar panels.
Couillard
This view of the energy future was very common in the Liberal government of Philippe Couillard, which refused to embark on the construction of new dams. In 2016, “in-house production” was also approved.
Hydro-Québec’s then CEO, Éric Martel, reacted negatively. In an interview with the Journal in 2018, he let out a loud cry because he feared that the state-owned company would enter a “death spiral” by developing self-producing “smart homes.” This would result in Quebecers purchasing less hydroelectricity. But the state-owned company would still have “so many transformers and electrical cables to buy”. Prices would rise, making home production even more profitable. “This is the deadly spiral,” Martel said. Hydro then estimated that domestic production in Quebec would be profitable from 2025.
In 2019, Martel seemed less concerned in the parliamentary committee: from 2017 to 2019 we went from “100 people in Quebec doing the production and then putting it back on the network.” […] at 700”. It simply doesn’t make sense to produce electricity for “US$0.30 per kilowatt hour when Hydro-Québec can sell it to me for US$0.078,” Martel stressed. (In 2023 there will be 831 active photovoltaic self-production systems, including 785 private customers.)
Unless, of course, we massively subsidize solar power, as Kelley suggests. According to this, self-producers would “release kilowatt hours that can be sold to our neighbors at a higher price”. In short, subsidizing solar power for export.
Solar energy and “microgrids” would allow us to move from “masters of our house” to “masters of yours,” writes Kelley. But what risks are there for the “flagship” at the heart of our “master” Hydro? Another issue to bring to the Commission on the energy future Quebec needs.
