$10 million in an Énergir subsidiary: “We still need natural gas in Quebec,” says the vice-president

Quebec plans to inject nearly $10 million into a subsidiary of Énergir, an investment necessary to modernize the thermal power plant installations in downtown Montreal, according to the executive vice-president.

“We still need natural gas in Quebec,” says Stéphanie Trudeau as she gives TVA Nouvelles a tour of the Énergir urban heat and air conditioning (ÉCCU) center.

“We are 42% electric in Quebec – which is already a lot – but there is a large part where there is fossil energy,” adds the vice-president of Énergir in Quebec.

“Our goal is to reduce the energy we use, and therefore to achieve energy efficiency,” she explains. Then, electrify what makes sense. Then, the natural gas that remains, we try to replace it with renewable natural gas, so it’s really a multi-energy solution.”

ÉCCU supplies heating and air conditioning to more than a third of the buildings in the city’s downtown core. We are talking about almost 2 million square meters in terms of surface area.

It is this thermal power plant which heats, among other places, Place Ville-Marie, Place Bonaventure, Central Station and the Stock Exchange Tower.

The investment from the Quebec government will be used to install two electric boilers as well as a heat recovery and valorization system.

These new installations will “help decarbonize the city center,” says the Minister of the Environment, Benoît Charrette.

“Essentially, this represents a reduction of 10 tonnes of GHGs annually,” he explains.

***Follow our journalist during his visit to the ÉCCU power plant in downtown Montreal in the video above***