2024-04-10 10:41:15
At least three new very high voltage electricity transmission lines will cross Quebec, from north to south and from east to west, in around ten years, Radio-Canada has learned, including, for the first time, a 735,000 volt connection with Gaspésie.
Hydro-Québec says it has no choice, because its transmission network is reaching saturation and new electricity production must be routed to industrial projects and the growing population.
The immense Hydro-Québec project will cost 45 to 50 billion dollars, just for the transmission lines. Up to 20% of all Quebec construction workers will be required to carry out the state corporation’s plan.
Hydro-Québec must act very quickly, because the 735 kilovolt lines take 10 years to build and local communities will have to be convinced of the relevance of the projects.
The subject is sensitive and the state corporation refused to detail its planning to Radio-Canada. Spokesperson Caroline Des Rosiers only confirms that kV will be required to transport the new production to the consumption centers”,”text”:”new links at 735kV will be required to transport the new production to the consumption centers. consumption”}}”>new 735 kV links will be required to transport the new production to the consumption centers.
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Map of the current network of 735 kV lines, in purple, and 315 kV, in green.
Photo: Hydro-Québec
According to three sources, a very high voltage line will be added from James Bay, to strengthen the electricity transmission corridor to the Montreal region. There will be another, on the same principle, to add capacity between the North Shore and southern Quebec.
Still according to our information, the third major 735 kV project will connect the current and future wind farms in Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie. Until the Matapédia Valley, Hydro-Québec vice-president Dave Rhéaume recently explained to renewable energy promoters.
This would allow Hydro-Québec to add a parallel line in the Lévis-Boucherville corridor, to increase capacity.
It’s as if Highway 20, between Quebec and Montreal, was always congested and a lane had to be added.
A quote from A source at Hydro-Québec
We must build highways to transport energy where it is needed, explains François Bouffard, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University.
He recalls that the geography of Quebec industry is changing, with many battery sector projects announced south of the St. Lawrence River, particularly in Bécancour.
The Northvolt project alone will need electrical power of 352 megawatts (MW), more than enough to power all the residences in Longueuil.
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Each 735 kV line can carry more than 2,000 megawatts, enough electricity to power 700,000 homes.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Thomas Gerbet
The transport network is, for the most part, at saturation. So, almost anywhere we want to make significant additions in production, it will require significant investments in transportation.
A quote from Dave Rhéaume, vice-president of Hydro-Québec, during the conference of the Quebec Renewable Energy Production Association, February 19, 2024
In addition to a new hydroelectric power station planned on the Petit-Mécatina River, on the North Shore, wind farms will multiply throughout the territory.
The role that wind power will play in the future is massive and it cannot be concentrated in one place in Quebec, explained the vice-president of Hydro-Québec, Dave Rhéaume, to members of the Quebec Association of renewable energy production (AQPER), last February. kV which must be improved to be able to respond to it. We need to think about the entire territory.”,”text”:”So, the entire architecture of the 735kV network must be improved to be able to respond. We need to think about the entire territory.”}}”>So, it is the entire architecture of the 735 kV network that must be improved to be able to respond. We need to think about the entire territory.
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Wind turbines along the river, in Cap-Chat, in Gaspésie (Archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Deschênes
Pressure to act quickly
Hydro-Québec confirms that, to build kV, which often takes a long time, the typical timeline can go up to 10 years for carrying out pre-project studies, obtaining the required authorizations and construction work,” text”:”a 735kV line, which is often long, the typical timeline can be up to 10 years for carrying out preliminary studies, obtaining the required authorizations and construction work”}}” >a 735 kV line, which is often long, the typical timeline can be up to 10 years for carrying out preliminary design studies, obtaining the required authorizations and construction work.
If the state company’s objective is to have it completed in 2035, the projects will have to be launched in the coming months. It’s already very late, according to the taste of some promoters.
What concerns us is not knowing where to put the wind turbines, it is getting the electricity out of our homes to bring it to Montreal, explained last month the mayor of Saint-Anne. des-Monts, Simon Deschênes, during a conference organized by the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economy (IRÉC) on the subject of Hydro-Québec.
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The mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Simon Deschênes, is vice-president of the Eastern Energy Alliance. (Archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jean-François Deschênes
With several communities in the region, he formed the Eastern Energy Alliance, which already operates wind turbines and has several projects. Within a few years, the region’s wind farms will have a theoretical capacity of 1,700 MW. “She’s our own Romaine,” said Mr. Deschênes.
We have projects that are progressing at a good pace. What we need to know with Hydro-Québec is where the transmission lines will go.
A quote from Simon Deschênes, mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts
Professor François Bouffard reminds us that we must really do it in advance to look at the routes and have the stakeholders and local communities ready to get on board.
Hydro-Québec will also have to order construction equipment, particularly transformers along the lines. Just for that, you have an order lead time of around three years, underlines Mr. Bouffard.
Millions of dollars per kilometer
The 735 kV Chamouchouane-Bout-de-l’île line, inaugurated in 2019, which connects Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean to the Montreal region, cost $3 million per kilometer. The Micoua-Saguenay line, commissioned in 2023, cost $5 million per kilometer.
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Hydro-Québec’s transmission network currently measures 34,000 kilometers, including 11,000 of 735 kV lines.
Photo: Hydro-Québec
Over a distance of 600 kilometers between the Matapedia valley and Montreal, a single 735 kV line could cost at least $3 billion, without taking into account inflation in recent years.
This is a lot of capital and it will have repercussions for Quebecers in terms of work and businesses, explains Mr. Bouffard. Local communities will also have benefits, in the form of fees, if a line passes through them.
The Legault government predicts that this energy development and the industrial projects it will fuel will be the economic engine of Quebec in the next 10 to 15 years.
Hydro-Québec wants things to be made easier for it
The state-owned company, in its 2035 plan, writes that the prerequisites for the success of this plan will be labor (55,000 construction workers needed in 2033), supply chains and regulatory changes.
She mentions the Hydro-Québec Act, which the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, must soon reform, as well as permits and rules in the building sector.
Minister Fitzgibbon himself deplored the administrative pitfalls which extend the duration of projects, referring to the challenges of Hydro-Québec.
Obviously, not everyone wants to have a power line in their yard; there are concerns about property values, mentions Professor Bouffard.
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The 735 kV Micoua-Saguenay line, commissioned in 2023.
Photo: Hydro-Québec
“Huge scars”
Anne-Céline Guyon, climate-energy analyst for Nature Québec, is concerned about the enormous scars that high-voltage lines make on the landscape. We are also talking about crossing regions with high recreational and tourism value.
She recalls that, to build Hydro-Québec lines, it is necessary to cut down trees, destroy wetlands, even cross rivers, with repercussions on biodiversity, the other major crisis along with that of the climate.
The major power lines are added to everything else in a territory that already lacks protection.
A quote from Anne-Céline Guyon, climate-energy analyst for Nature Québec
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Anne-Céline Guyon, climate-energy analyst at Nature-Québec (Archive photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada
Even if Nature Quebec is in favor of decarbonizing the economy, it calls for a democratic debate on the subject to prevent these new lines, like the allocation of electricity to industrial projects, from being shoved down the throats of citizens. .
Pierre Fitzgibbon tells Quebecers that they consume too much energy, that they must tighten their belts. And meanwhile it grants energy blocks to big industry. […] This is the best way to create opposition to the energy transition and no one will win.
A quote from Anne-Céline Guyon, climate-energy analyst for Nature Québec
To limit its environmental impact, Hydro-Québec is trying to replace a lower voltage line with a higher voltage line, or to group power lines in parallel in the same corridor. The routes are often subject to adjustments after examination by the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE).
And, over the 5,000 kilometers to be deployed, there will not only be high voltage. It will be kV”,”text”:”between 49 and 735kV”}}”>between 49 and 735 kV, specifies the state company. But even smaller lines can be contested.
In the Laurentians, the municipality of Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard fought for a long time against a 120 kV line project to preserve its forest cover. In the end, justice ruled in favor of Hydro-Québec.
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