Quebec in wind power expansion plans

Quebec is set to emerge as one of the largest wind power developers in North America after Jean Charest the Prime Minister granted approval for wind power schemes with a generation capacity of over two gigawatts by the year 2015. This is the equivalent of the electricity consumption of three hundred and twenty thousand households in Quebec.

At present over four hundred megawatts of electricity is generated in the province of Quebec and this is from approximately twelve wind farms mainly situated in the region of Gaspé.

Hydro-Québec is in a plan spanning five years where it is diversifying from hydro generation. It intends to supply the electricity generated from the wind farms to provincial grid as well as increase exports to Ontario and the US. Electricity exports from Quebec have shot up to 10700 megawatts in 2008 up from 6700 megawatts three years ago making the revenue jump by 1.1 billion dollars.

The Minister of Natural Resources in Quebec Province, Claude Béchard, has disclosed that the province intends to cut down on overall energy consumption by 5.7 per cent in seven years and this would involve reducing natural gas consumption by 6.2 per cent and oil usage by 10 per cent in seven years as well.

Quebec is perfect for wind farms since the abundance of hydro electricity ensures that the problem of the intermittent nature of wind power can be compensated for by hydro power. Quebec also possesses an excellent transmission network to Ontario and the New England states enabling it to sell them the surplus electricity. A supply line to Ontario from Quebec is also nearing completion and it will possess the capacity to transmit 1.25 gigawatts.