Editor’s note: This commentary is by Lynn St-Laurent, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec.
[I]n the fight against climate change, opposition can be found in odd places
The U.S. Northeast is transitioning towards cleaner energy. Faced with the impending retirement of several sources of baseload energy, the region is adding more solar and wind sources to its grid. Over the past six years, the use of these renewables increased 2 percent. That’s a small step, however, compared to the leap natural gas – a fossil fuel – has made over the same period: Its use shot up from 15 percent to close to 50 percent.
For significant progress against climate change, you need clean baseload energy
Hydro-Québec’s exports displace fossil fuel generation in markets outside Québec. Each year, millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions are avoided in the company’s export markets – the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than one million cars.
In addition to being a major source of low-emitting energy, Hydro-Québec’s vast reservoir system enables it to firm up intermittent renewables, absorb excess generation from surrounding markets and flow that power back onto those grids when it’s most needed. Hydro-Québec can be the battery for America’s Northeast.
Smearing Québec hydro opens the door to more fossil fuels
The commentary “Megadams and the flood of lies” published in VTDigger this month is spiked with falsehoods. One has to wonder: Why the mudslinging? As one of the readers commented: [the authors’] “clear choice is to live by candle light and cook on fire, and essentially live only during daylight.” For anything else, you’re setting the stage for increased use of natural gas. In a region like New England that is engaged in an energy transition, that just doesn’t make sense.
Let’s get a few facts straight. Hydro-Québec’s projects have not involved forced resettlement of any indigenous communities.
Lathem and Totten also raise the issue of mercury accumulation in hydropower reservoirs. Mercury levels do increase for a certain period of time after a reservoir is created, this is a well-known and – more importantly – a temporary phenomenon that Hydro-Québec mitigates through a follow-up program carried out with local health agencies. This program includes adapted consumption guides and mercury studies.
Let’s examine a few more misconceptions in “Flood of Lies,” such as this one: “Hydro-Québec has dozens of proposed dams in the works to supply the northeast United States’ insatiable appetite for energy.” It is a mystery where that statement comes from. We are currently completing our Romaine generating complex; the fourth unit will come online in 2020. Until then, we’re analyzing what our next-generation project will be, all the while investing in R&D initiatives, including solar photovoltaic, home automation and battery materials, among others.
Of course it’s clean energy: Hydropower’s greenhouse gases emissions are among the lowest of all power generation options
Let’s put the debate on whether hydropower is clean to rest once and for all. The International Life Cycle chair of the CIRAIG (International Reference Centre for the Life Cycles of Products, Processes and Services) has published a life-cycle analysis comparing different power generation options and the electricity mixes of various Canadian provinces, U.S. states and other countries. Its major findings are that emissions from Québec hydropower are:
• Similar to those from wind power or nuclear power
• Five times lower than emissions from solar photovoltaic energy
• 50 times lower than a gas-fired thermal plant
• 70 times lower than a coal-fired thermal plant
Hydro-Québec applies the principles of sustainable development to all phases of its projects
Hydro-Québec has been active in environmental protection for 40 years and is a pioneer in this field. The company does everything it can to mitigate the impacts of its facilities throughout their life cycle and to preserve the uses of the land affected by its operations.
Our projects go through stringent environmental reviews, both at the provincial and national levels, with a view to preventing and mitigating for project impacts.
Québec hydropower can be part of the solution in the U.S. Northeast, diversifying the fuel mix and offering clean, reliable and cost-effective energy that the region needs.
