Hydro-Québec announces first major $9 billion wind project

Hydro-Québec’s first “mega-farm” wind farm will be deployed in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, as revealed by Radio-Canada last month. The Crown corporation is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday. The project, which will be the second largest in the world, will extend over an area equivalent to 13 times the island of Montreal.

The target area, covering 5,000 square kilometres, is located west of Lac-Saint-Jean. It will extend from MRC from Domaine-du-Roy to the Atikamekw territory of Wemotaci, passing through the lands of Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation (Mashteuiatsh).

According to Hydro-Québec, the potential wind capacity there is 3,000 megawatts, twice that of the La Romaine hydroelectric complex. However, this is a theoretical potential, since the wind turbines only contribute 35% of their power on paper.

The project is nonetheless enormous since it would be the second largest wind farm in the world, after that of Jiuquan, in China. To produce a capacity of 3000 MW, it could have 500 modern wind turbines of 6 MW.

Various wind farms could form a cluster in the area, with Hydro-Québec’s Chamouchouane transformer station as the nerve center, a few kilometers from the village of La Doré, and a new transformer station that will be built further west, along a very high voltage electricity transmission corridor.

Starting in August, equipment to collect data on wind quality will be installed in the area and a public consultation period will begin.

Partnership egalitarian

The two indigenous communities and the MRC will be partners and shareholders in the wind project, the investment of which is estimated at 9 billion dollars.

The participations will be distributed equally between the community partners and Hydro-Québecwe can read in the joint press release which will be made public on Wednesday morning.

The partnership was ratified by a decree from the Quebec government on June 12.

For the Quebec government, this is a perfect example of a win-win partnership for all signatories.

This historic partnership represents an important milestone in the lasting relationship that we hope to see develop between the First Nations, Hydro-Québec and our partners.said the leader of Mashteuiatsh, Gilbert Dominique.

We are proud to participate in this ambitious project, which will benefit our current and future members.added Viviane Chilton, head of the Wemotaci Council.

Several indigenous communities have raised their hands to become partners in such projects. According to information from Radio-Canada, two other regions are being considered to host “mega-parks”: the Haute-Côte-Nord and the James Bay hydroelectric power station sector.

This equal partnership very well embodies the vision that we presented in our Wind Development Strategy.

Hydro-Québec wants to develop an additional capacity of 10,000 megawatts of wind electricity by 2035 by focusing on projects industrial level. Wind power is now the locomotive of its expansion to meet the growth in demand for electricity.

The challenge of the financial capacity of communities

The Crown corporation also reached an agreement with the Pessamit First Nation on the Haute-Côte-Nord last February. The text of the agreement mentions a wind potential of at least 1,000 MW that could be exploited as early as 2029.

The Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, Ghislain Picard, shared his doubts about the capacity [financière] communities to invest in such projects.

Each shareholder community could have to put hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. Communities are not at the level of industry, it would be necessary to ensure an upgrade in terms of capitalbelieves Ghislain Picard, evoking the possibility of creating a special fund that could be implemented by the government, where communities could invest.

It will be the major issueaccording to him, in addition to that of the environment. In the area surrounding the Chamouchaoune post, there are biodiversity reserves and biological refuges, particularly for the forest caribou.