2023-08-17 23:45:23
The threat of a lack of electricity in the province has been hovering over the government for several months now; the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon admits in an interview with TVA on Thursday, Quebec “does not have enough energy” for all its industrial projects.
• Read also: Battery sector, Ford: $644 million for 345 jobs in Bécancour
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• Read also: We need half as many cars in Quebec, says Fitzgibbon
Quebec is going through a rather special situation. 50 large projects require the supply of 50 megawatts or more in the province at present. Between 2000 and 2022, there was only one.
“I must admit that we do not have enough electricity for all the projects that the government considers valid for environmental purposes to decarbonize or economic purposes,” says the superminister.
He wanted to reassure the population regarding the risk of an energy shortage in Quebec.
“We will never run out of electricity for essential services, our homes, our hospitals.”
All options are possible within the government to overcome this lack of electricity: wind or solar energy, or the construction of new dams.
“But we can also consume a little less or differently,” he says.
We might also see the new boss of Hydro-Québec, Michael Sabia, this fall in a parliamentary committee, so that he can speak for the first time before elected officials.
Another multinational is setting up in the Energy Transition Valley, in Bécancour. This time, it is the giant Ford and its battery materials production plant, which will create 345 jobs.
“It’s still interesting to see that we are able to convince these people to come to Quebec because we have the resources, the adequate financial programs and then the talent ecosystem too.”
According to the Minister, it is the first “ecosystem” of its kind in North America. A complete “chain”, from the minerals to the battery.
Ottawa and Quebec will finance nearly $650 million for the construction of the plant. “We consider that the costs will be lower than the income for Quebec, especially since it is a strategic sector that will help decarbonize Quebec.”
The addition of an electric battery manufacturer, which will ultimately lead to the finalization of an electric vehicle in Quebec, will not help reduce the vehicle fleet; yet this is what Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon demanded earlier this week.
“I’m one of those people who believe that electric cars…everything has to be electric. But you have to have half as much!”, he said on Monday.
He admits that he does not regret his statement and really believes “we will get there”. “I think young people are realizing it, to have 2-3 cars per family, I think we’re going to see a gradual reduction.”
TVA Nouvelles journalists questioned citizens from across the province on Thursday regarding the need to have two cars at home.
“We don’t have the choice of having two cars because I work and he works, then we don’t work at the same hours. […] If I had the choice, we would have only one,” said a woman at the microphone of TVA, in Sept-Îles.
“We are in the countryside, then in this weather, it takes two cars because if one is leaving, the other must be able to go to the hospital if there is place,” said a citizen we met in Trois-Rivières.
“We are in the region, he will have to think of the region somewhere. It’s different, the reality is really different, ”laments another in Matane.
In response, the minister believes that “we have to be careful” with the regions. “It takes public transit, not REM, it takes carpooling, but I think the other generations will follow us, will be more open to other concepts of sharing, but we have no objective to reduce the percentage,” he confirms.
In Quebec, transportation accounts for nearly 44% of greenhouse gas emissions. “Carbon neutrality in 2050 will not happen with 5.2 million cars.”
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