Hydro-Québec to expand its transmission lines

Hydro towers in Quebec. (The Canadian Press)

Quebecers can expect to see a forest of new transmission lines over the next few years.

On Monday, Hydro-Québec announced the launch of the first phase of development and reinforcement work on its power transmission network – the high-voltage lines that carry large quantities of electricity from where it is generated to the substations that redistribute it to clients.

It was already known that Hydro-Québec's wants to massively increase its electricity production, but once produced, this electricity must be transported.

Between now and 2035, the utilities corporation plans to invest a total of $50 billion to install some 5,000 kilometers of transmission lines, about half at high voltage (735 kilovolts and 315 kilovolts) and the other half at intermediate voltage (between 69 kV and 315 kV) for regional development and local loads.

1600 new towers

The first phase announced on Monday represents investments of around $10 billion to reinforce the existing network, build almost 850 kilometers of new 735 kV or 315 kV transmission lines, and add five new substations.

The company's plan already includes the installation of 1,600 new towers for this first phase.

This phase will be carried out along three axes: one on the North Shore in the corridor between Sept-Îles and Baie-Comeau, the second in the Appalachian-Lower St. Lawrence sector covering the Beauce to the area bordering the New Brunswick border near Edmundston, and the third in the St. Lawrence Valley, inland on the North Shore from the Capitale-Nationale region through the Mauricie region to the Lanaudière region.

Hydro's Executive Vice President and Chief Infrastructure Officer, Claudine Bouchard, promised that the work, which is expected to generate $7 billion in spinoffs, will benefit the regions where it takes place.

“You've seen that we have two major development axis projects in the regions of Quebec, so we're going to make sure we generate regional economic spinoffs in those regions and hire the workforce to be able to develop the lines,” she said.

The precise locations where these lines will be installed have yet to be determined, but Hydro-Québec makes no secret of its preference for installations in existing corridors. “Of course, not opening a new corridor is always the least-impact route, but at the same time, we have to take into account community concerns. That's why we're currently in preliminary consultations to hear these kinds of elements from our partners in the various regions concerned by the three axes of the transportation project,” said Bouchard.

While such corridors already exist in the Côte-Nord and Vallée du Saint-Laurent corridors, this is not the case in the Appalaches-Bas-Saint-Laurent corridor.

Social acceptability

In presenting this first phase on Monday, Bouchard emphasized social acceptability and stressed the consultations to be held with the 25 regional county municipalities (RCMs), some 200 municipalities and a dozen aboriginal communities that will be impacted by these structures.

Hydro-Québec decided to get ahead of the game by initiating consultations before even thinking about routes, an unprecedented approach for the state-owned company.

“This is the first time we've met with representatives of non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities to discuss their concerns and their plans to develop their territory as part of our project definition. Then we'll go out and talk to the public to find the route with the least impact,” said Bouchard.

All three corridors aim to improve system reliability and resistance to increasingly frequent extreme weather events. On the North Shore, the more focused objective is to enable the development of new renewable energy sources and support industrial development; on the Appalachian-Lower St. Lawrence axis, the state-owned company wants to support the development of wind power potential in eastern Quebec, while development of the St. Lawrence Valley axis will enable the transmission of additional energy from northern and eastern Quebec, increase the capacity of high-voltage lines that have reached their limit, and supply the growing needs of urban centers in the south of the province.

The new infrastructures will be gradually commissioned between 2031 and 2036.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press Nov. 4, 2024.