The extreme cold of the last few days has put pressure on the Hydro-Québec network, which had to go so far as to commission its backup thermal power station in Bécancour over the weekend.
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This installation, which runs on light fuel oil, can generate more than 400 megawatts of power, but it is only used on rare occasions.
Hydro Quebec agrees that it is unusual to experience a peak period in the middle of the weekend. In the morning on Saturday, demand reached 38,360 MW, slightly less than the record of 39,965 MW recorded on Tuesday January 11.
It should be noted that the total power of the production fleet is around 40,000 MW.
“Obviously, we make projections and usually we are right, but it can happen that in some cases, the demand is a little greater than anticipated. It is in this kind of situation that we use the power reserve offered by the Bécancour power station,” explained Francis Labbé, spokesperson for the state-owned company.
Since the beginning of January, this plant has already been put to use for a total period of 18 hours.
On top of that, Hydro-Québec had to turn to import markets and take advantage of industrial, commercial and residential energy saving programs.
For Hydro-Québec, these programs have strong recovery potential, roughly equivalent to the total capacity of the four generating stations forming the La Romaine hydroelectric complex.