2024-01-19 09:35:40
Resolute Forest Products (PFR) will be able to sell to Hydro-Québec up to 60 megawatts (MW) of its electricity production from its dams which is intended for its Kénogami and Alma paper mills, during peak periods this winter.
Quebec announced Wednesday that an agreement had been reached between PFR, which is owned by Groupe Papier Excellence, and Hydro-Québec.
Hydro-Québec contacted PFR to conclude this agreement, indicated company spokesperson Louis Bouchard.
It will free up energy during periods of peak winter consumption, when needs are increasingly greater in the province.
This is a first agreement of its kind for the Kénogami and Alma paper mills. They are powered by the five hydroelectric power stations that PFR owns on the Shipshaw River, with a production capacity of just over 145 MW.
The current agreement only concerns the current winter period and will end on March 31, at the end of the winter period.
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The Kénogami Resolute Forest Products plant in Jonquière.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Dylan Reid
The activities of the two factories will be modulated for a few hours, when the company receives a request from the state company. However, no cessation of production is envisaged.
This does not result in a cessation of operations in our factories. So, there is no layoff or production stoppage related to this, indicated Mr. Bouchard. Obviously, we have the capacity to store dough and modulate our operations to be able to stop the production of thermomechanical dough, he added.
Louis Bouchard could not specify the revenues expected from the sale of electricity to Hydro-Québec, which will vary depending on demand.
A decree had to be adopted by the council of ministers to allow this agreement and modify the lease of the Shipshaw River. This modification authorizes PFR to sell electricity to Hydro-Québec, while the production of the dams can normally only be used to power its two plants in Kénogami and Alma.
The terms of the lease are defined in Bill 50, which was adopted in 2020 with a view to renewing the lease in January 2022.
Union concerns for the future
The presidents of the unions affiliated with the CSN at the two plants said they had no fears about the application of the agreement with Hydro-Québec this winter.
The president of the Alma Pulp and Paper Workers’ Union, Jean-Pierre Rivard, however, fears the impact that the renewal of such an agreement could have on jobs, during periods when order books are less full.
We all know that paper is not skyrocketing, it is not skyrocketing. What prevents, in a year, more than 60 MW, then closing the factories for a month, then selling power?
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Jean-Pierre Rivard is president of the National Union of Pulp and Paper Workers at the Resolute Forest Products Alma plant.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Claude Bouchard
The president of the National Union of Pulp and Paper Workers of Kénogami, Gilles Vaillancourt, shares this concern. He would have liked the agreement to be accompanied by job protection.
What I like least about the project, what I would have liked, is for our jobs to be protected while there are shutdowns, so that they don’t take advantage of them while there are production stoppages, orders are lower, then we are at home without working, he mentioned.
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Gilles Vaillancourt is the president of the National Union of Pulp and Paper Workers of Kénogami.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Myriam Gauthier
The company’s spokesperson, Louis Bouchard, for his part indicated that production stoppages remain solely linked to market conditions. The program we are talking about today, therefore the sale of energy, is a separate file, he indicated.
No stoppage of activities is planned in the short term in the two factories, it was indicated by both the unions and PFR. Activities at the Kénogami plant were temporarily suspended during the holidays due to reduced demand for paper. In Alma, activities have been taking place normally since the resumption following the lockout which ended in September.
A meeting with Minister Andrée Laforest
Union representatives from the Kénogami and Alma plants will also meet next week with the minister responsible for Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Andrée Laforest, to express their fears about the future of the dams belonging to PFR. .
Unions remain concerned that the company intends to sell some of its dams, as they raised at a press briefing in December.
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Andrée Laforest is Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Photo : Radio-Canada
Louis Bouchard affirms for his part that discussions are underway on several energy issues with Quebec. I don’t know where that idea came from. We are having discussions with the government about several projects. We had discussions about energy, he mentioned, citing as an example the agreement concluded with Hydro-Québec.
However, he refuses to comment on the company’s intentions regarding its dams.
For the moment, we are under lease. The Hydro-Saguenay complex supplies the two plants in Kénogami and Alma and I also think that we were able to address this question with the unions and then I think that it should be resolved too, he added.
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