The Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy and the Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, Pierre Fitzgibbon (Photo: Simon Prelle)
At the editorial table with Dealson April 19, the Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy and the Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, Pierre Fitzgibbon, among other things, gave us a few words about the highly anticipated “bill ensuring responsible governance of energy resources and modifying various legislative provisions”, which will be presented this Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
While waiting to read complete coverage by our journalists François Normand, Emmanuel Martinez and Dominique Talbot, as well as our guest expert Pierre Olivier Pineau, here are excerpts that address this major project that he has been cherishing since 2022.
To (re)read: This bill will affect all businesses
Deals: Is there a possibility of restarting [la centrale nucléaire] from Gentilly?
Today, we are not going to try, Quebecers are not ready for that.
On the other hand, I have said publicly that we will not decarbonize the planet without nuclear power, it will not happen. We see it with the Americans, the Ontarians, it’s going to happen.
When will we be able to bring the debate to Quebec? Soon. Because we are going to develop an approach in Quebec that we have never used, it is called the Integrated Energy Resources Plan.
We received [en avril] the Minister of Energy and the Economy in France, they have the Multi-year Energy Programs (PPE), it’s the same thing.
Our government will put this in place. We will work with all stakeholders to show what the energy needs are, because we cannot electrify everything.
The entire industry cannot be electrified, nor heavy transport. So, obviously, there are going to be significant needs relating to hydrogen…
… Because at some point, are we going to build 15 dams? Maybe, but maybe not. Are we going to build wind turbines? Yes, but there will be some in your yard, in mine… we might not like it. Nuclear power will therefore be included in the discussion.
Deals: The discussion will thus be relaunched when your bill is submitted [sous peu]?
Yes, I’ll file that. I’m going to take my time because there are a lot of people who will intervene, including Hydro-Québec and Énergir. We will submit it at the end of the session so that everyone can express themselves during the summer, around barbecues.
There’s no gag on this. We will take the time we need for a public debate. And nuclear power will come into play a little, but not immediately. Because it is only when we have the integrated energy resources plan that people will be able to say to themselves: “Should we opt for nuclear power or a 14th dam? »
We need to have a good educational discussion with Quebecers. There are experts who will explain to us: this is what is happening in nuclear power.
Deals: so the Gentilly power plant could restart?
Gentilly, it is clear that we will be able to restart it eventually, but we will see the story. Because there are two things: security and uranium. Safety, just to say that Fukushima has reopened. Closer to us, there is OPG, in Ontario, where there is a park and the children play in it, [on l’a vu].
So, I think we need to have a good educational discussion with Quebecers.
Deals: On November 10, you granted approximately 956 MW of electricity. HEC Montréal did a study which broke down everything with a table: 67% went to the battery sector, 37% for Northvolt. Isn’t Quebec taking a risk of overexposure (to use an investment expression) by putting so many of its eggs in the battery sector basket?
When I was appointed Minister of Energy, Hydro-Québec called me in the weeks that followed to tell me: “We cannot satisfy industrial demand. » In the past, the government had to approve any project above 50 MW. We have since lowered this threshold to 5 MW.
Today, I have 13,500 MW of industrial demand for interesting projects. But there aren’t any, technically megawatts.
Yesterday, I was with a mayor who I will not name, and he said to me: “Pierre, I want some in the next year. ” There are not any ! The station cannot provide electricity at this time. It’s going to take maybe five years to upgrade it. The problem is serious.
Consult our special report on the battery sector
