With demand set to surge, Hydro-Québec looks to expand transmission capacity
Public utilty plans to invest $50B in 5,000 km of transmission lines by 2035
Quebecers can expect to see a forest of new transmission lines sprouting up in the coming years.
Hydro-Québec announced Monday the launch of the first phase of work to develop and reinforce its electricity transmission network, the high-voltage lines that transport electricity from the places where it is produced to the substations that redistribute it to customers.
The public utility's intention to increase its electricity production is well known. But once produced, this electricity needs to be transmitted as well.
By 2035, Hydro-Québec plans to invest a total of $50 billion to install 5,000 kilometres of transmission lines, about half of which will be high voltage (735 kilovolts and 315 kilovolts) and the other half intermediate voltage (between 69 kilovolts and 315 kilovolts) for regional development and local loads.
The first phase announced Monday represents investments of approximately $10 billion to strengthen the existing network, build nearly 850 kilometres of new 735 kilovolt or 315 kilovolt transmission lines and add five new electrical substations.
Hydro-Québec says 1,600 new transmission towers will have to be installed for this first phase.
This phase will be carried out on three axes: one on the Côte-Nord in the corridor between Sept-Îles and Baie-Comeau, the second in the Appalaches–Bas-Saint-Laurent sector covering Beauce up to the sector bordering New Brunswick near Edmundston, and the third in the St. Lawrence Valley, inland from the north shore of the Quebec City region to the Lanaudière region, via Mauricie.
Claudine Bouchard, Hydro-Québec's executive vice-president and chief infrastructure officer, said the work, which is expected to generate $7 billion in revenue, will benefit the regions where it will be carried out.
"You have seen that we have two major development axis projects that are in the regions of Quebec and so we will ensure that we create regional economic spinoffs in these regions and hire the workforce to be able to develop the lines," Bouchard said.
More than 200 municipalities affected
The exact locations where these lines will be built haven't yet been determined, but Hydro-Québec said it prefers to use existing corridors to lessen the environmental impact when possible.
"Of course, not opening a new corridor is always a route with less impact, but at the same time, we must take into account the community's concerns," said Bouchard.
"That is why we are currently in preliminary consultations to hear this type of element from our partners from the different communities in the regions concerned by the three axes of the transport project."
In presenting this first phase on Monday, Bouchard said consultations will be held with 25 regional county municipalities, along with roughly 200 municipalities and a dozen Indigenous communities.
The new infrastructure will be gradually put into service between 2031 and 2036.
This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CBC News