It would take 13 new hydroelectric dams to meet demand

A total of 13 new dams will be needed to meet energy demand in many sectors, especially in this area. which relates to the electrification of transport and the conversion of heating and industrial processes of companies, learned Radio-Canada. The Crown corporation will submit a brief on this subject on Tuesday.

Several companies attracted by inexpensive hydroelectricity have sent Hydro-Québec requests for energy amounting to 23,000 megawatts ( MW), equivalent to half of the power of the current energy park of the state company. This total is notably greater than what the Minister of Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, had estimated, who had mentioned 20,000 MW of requests.

The memorandum underlines that “such a scenario is unrealistic. Technical, economic and social constraints mean that it will only be possible to supply a fraction of the requests received.”

Faced with this scenario, Hydro-Québec specifies in its brief that the government will have to choices, and that strong demand may increase the cost of electricity generation.