Quebec (Canada) is soon to have huge surplus of electricity, but it will cost more due to more expensive wind turbines and dams being put in, in the face of very, very inexpensive natural gas.
The surplus doesn’t surprise Pierre-Olivier Pineau, an energy specialist at the HEC Montreal business school.
“If there is an energy shortage everyone is really upset,” he noted.
“What could be criticized is the very aggressive development of wind power, small hydro and large hydro — all at the same time.”
Hydro-Quebec’s domestic supply forecast is only part of Quebec’s energy picture, a complex tableau that is often obscure and further complicated by the fact that Hydro-Quebec’s production and distribution divisions are under one roof.
To calculate domestic supply, Hydro-Quebec Distribution factors in electricity that will come online this decade via wind farms but not electricity that will come from new dam complexes such as Eastmain-1-A or the highly controversial Romaine Complex which is to add 8 TWh to the grid.
The wind farms “were forced on Hydro-Quebec” by the provincial government, which wanted to promote regional development and market sustainable development rather than meet energy needs, Pineau said.
Energy from new dam complexes will be valuable in the long term but in this economic downturn and with energy markets awash with low-cost natural gas, Hydro-Quebec faces some difficult years, he said.
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