There will no longer be mandatory local content in calls for tenders from Hydro-Québec, which is preparing to increase its purchases of wind energy from private producers.
The objective is not to move more quickly to increase electricity production, but to respond to the concerns of promoters, said the spokesperson for the state company, Maxence Huard-Lefebvre. “The new rules provide more flexibility,” he said.
According to him, Hydro-Québec always considers the local content of a bid to be a plus. Points are always awarded to the bidder who includes some local content in their proposal, but this local content applies to all project-related expenses and not to equipment such as towers, blades or turbines. Importantly, the state corporation does not make this a mandatory requirement.
It is by requiring local manufacturing content that the Quebec government has succeeded in attracting expertise to the Gaspésie, with manufacturers like LM Glass Fiber (blades) and Marmen (towers).
Mandatory local content requirements were already missing from the last tender for the purchase of wind power in 2023.
“For the construction of the wind farm, the bidder can commit to ensuring that a percentage of the overall expenses of the wind farm are carried out in Quebec,” indicates the document of this call for tenders which selected eight bids for a total of 1550 megawatts.
A different context
Hydro-Québec previously required “guaranteed Quebec content and guaranteed regional content” in its wind calls for tenders.
Change is not for everyone. Wind tower manufacturer Marmen has already publicly criticized the government’s abandonment of support for wind turbine manufacturers. He did not want to return to the subject when The Press contacted him. Many local stakeholders, including MP Pascal Bérubé, deplore the abandonment of local content requirements at a time when the state corporation is undertaking a historic expansion plan.
The Eastern Alliance brings together municipalities from the territory which benefited the most from the local content obligation in previous calls for tenders. It has just concluded two 30-year contracts with Hydro-Québec for nearly 500 megawatts, with the new rules of the game. Its president, Michel Lagacé, is realistic. “We encourage local production and we want it,” he says, “but when we look at the state of things, we can understand. »
The scarcity of labor in Quebec, as well as the strong demand for wind energy throughout the world, makes it difficult to attract manufacturers to Quebec, explains Michel Letellier, president of ‘Innergex.
The energy producer has also just concluded a 30-year supply contract with Hydro-Québec.
According to him, it is normal for Hydro-Québec to adapt its rules to the new reality, if it wants to obtain new supplies quickly and at a reasonable price. “Turbine manufacturers have a lot of choices for investing all over the planet,” he says. When Innergex won its first call for tenders, we brought General Electric to invest, with Marmen and LM Glass Fiber. Today, manufacturers tell us that they will not come here because there is too little volume, when there is so much to do on the planet. Hydro-Québec understood that if we wanted to force this, we would have to pay much more. »
Reduce the delay
Hydro-Québec wants the wind projects it selected during its last call for tenders to be in production within a fairly short period of time, between 2027 and 2029.
Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, for his part, makes no secret of the fact that he would like new electricity supplies to be available quickly in order to be able to meet the demands of companies piling up on his desk.
Some 3,300 megawatts of new electricity should be available in 2029, he said recently before the Canadian Club of Montreal. “Hydro-Québec is looking to see if we can bring this date forward,” he indicated on this occasion.
reference: www.lapresse.ca