QC to allow private-to-private electricity sales

Pressure on NL to address same issue at root of QC policy shift

Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash

A new bill due this spring in the Quebec National Assembly will allow private electricity generators to sell directly to other commercial operators over private transmission lines. Companies would also be able to sell directly to Hydro-Quebec, as some do already.

They would not be able to use Hydro-Quebec transmission lines, reportedly, although it is not clear how the Government of Quebec/Hydro-Quebec could do this and remain in line with American rules on energy transmission that HQ must comply with to sell electricity into the United States.

Radio-Canada reported last week that the government was extending a minor exemption granted to biomass generators to other renewable energy forms. The Canadian Union of Public Employees rang the Luddite hysteria buzzer earlier in the week linking Rio Tinto’s new wind farm to the privatization of Hydro-Quebec.

The Quebec government’s move is a logical response to forecasts of increased demand that Hydro-Quebec cannot meet alone through anticipated developments within the province or with partners like NALCOR to develop projects in Labrador. Responding to media questions amid a controversy, unnamed government sources pointed Radio-Canada to the example of an industrial park where a battery maker with a surplus of electricity from its own renewable generation sources could supply neighbouring businesses over privately built and maintained transmission lines.

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