CanREA: Hydro-Québec’s Electricity Supply Plan 2023-2032 Sends a Positive Signal to the Renewable Energy Industry

November 21, 2022

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) would like to indicate that Hydro-Québec’s Electricity Supply Plan 2023-2032, filed yesterday with the Régie de l’Énergie, is a step in the right direction and that the wind, solar and energy storage sectors will be able to supply a major portion of future energy needs.

Quebec will be able to rely on the wind and solar energy and energy storage sectors to meet its needs in terms of the greatly increased new capacity and energy required to achieve carbon neutrality.

Hydro-Québec’s Electricity Supply Plan 2023-2032 anticipates that Quebec’s electricity demand will increase by 25 terawatt hours (TWh), a 14% rise between 2022 and 2032, confirming that Quebec’s pattern of growing demand for electricity will continue.

According to Jean Habel, CanREA’s Director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, “As a result of efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, growth in electricity demand in Quebec will increase substantially in the next few years. Quebec will be able to rely on the solar and wind energy and energy storage sectors to supply a major portion of the new capacity and energy required.”

Members of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association stand ready to make further contributions to the decarbonization of the economy via the two upcoming requests for proposals for 1,000 MW of wind energy and 1,300 MW of renewable energy, both of which will be launched within the next few months.

Additional requests for proposals are planned for the next few years as part of Hydro-Québec’s commitment to meet all the needs forecasted in the Electricity Supply Plan 2023-2032. CanREA’s members have been calling strongly for such a step, and we recognize the clear signal that the new Electricity Supply Plan’s announcement sends. It will bring the industry greater predictability and consistency over the coming years.

In CanREA’s 2050 Vision – Powering Canada’s journey to Net-Zero, CanREA describes the scale and speed required to implement renewable energy production so that we can achieve our climate goals and help our partners decarbonize.

To achieve this, CanREA reiterates that we must innovate and diversify our approaches to supply so that we can meet growing consumer demand while optimizing infrastructure in order to reduce the impact of peak demand.

CanREA members are ready to continue working with Hydro-Québec, local communities and the government of Quebec so that we can create the conditions required for optimal development of our technology in Quebec.

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