wind farms

Still no commitment to Quebec content in wind farms

Local Journalism Initiative / The Gaspé Spec / July 9, 2025 / gaspe, mna, nelson sergerie, Stéphane Sainte-Croix, wind farms

Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – Quebec still has not committed to including regional and Quebec content requirements in wind power projects, even though Hydro-Québec is set to develop 10,000 megawatts of wind energy.
Following the adoption of Bill 69, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for Gaspé, Stéphane Sainte-Croix believes that Hydro now has the agility and flexibility to create winning conditions for Quebec content.

Mr. Sainte-Croix believes that the sector will be able to focus on its objectives and will be included in the development plan.

The elected official indicates that there will be room for Quebec companies such as LM Wind Power in Gaspé and Marmen in Matane.

However, conditions have not yet been set. “We are not yet in concrete discussions to see how this will play out. We have given Hydro-Québec the tools to consider these elements. But we are aware that the contribution of these companies is important for the future,” says Mr. Sainte-Croix.

Meanwhile, the MNA believes that the abolition of the minimum price for gasoline, which came into effect on June 9, is a step toward stimulating competition. He notes that other measures are in the works, including mandatory disclosure of price variations, which will make it easier to track market trends.

The MNA points out that Haute-Gaspésie, Côte-de-Gaspé, and part of Rocher-Percé still have some of the highest gasoline prices in the province.

“It will take some time for the market to regulate itself based on supply and demand. The Clark report in recent years indicated that Gaspésie more often than not had the highest prices in Quebec. The abolition of the price floor will stimulate this impact on prices,” he believes.

In place for 28 years, Quebec felt that the previous price floor mechanism limited competition among retailers and, as a result, led to higher prices.

Meanwhile, when it was withdrawn on June 9, motorists in the Bay of Chaleur were paying the fair price for regular gasoline, according to data from the Régie de l’énergie, However those in Rocher-Percé and Côte-de-Gaspé were paying more.

In Avignon and Bonaventure, gasoline sold for an average of $1.514 per litre, with a profit margin of 11.2 cents, slightly below the annual average of 11.7 cents.

In Chandler and Gaspé, a litre should sell for $1.54, but it is priced at $1.57.

The margin on the Gaspé Peninsula is 14.8 cents, compared to an average of 12.5 cents last year. In Rocher-Percé, it was 12.8 cents, compared to an average of 11.6 cents last year.

Government actions in recent months have lowered the average profit margin by 3 to 4 cents, depending on the sector.

The report by economist Robert Clark, published in May 2024, who was tasked with investigating the practices of oil companies, concluded that the Gaspé region had the highest annual pre-tax gasoline price in the province over the past decade.

Furthermore, for the third time since 2019, a report showed that the annual profit margin for retailers in Gaspé was the highest in the last decade.

The expert noted in his report, for example, that the profit margin in Gaspé rose from 9 cents in 2021 to 15.2 cents in 2023.

According to him, lower sales volume did not explain the higher prices charged in the region.
The Quebec government has since forwarded the Clark report to the Competition Bureau.

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The Eastern Energy Alliance could benefit from U.S wind power policies

Local Journalism Initiative / The Gaspé Spec / February 19, 2025 / energy, gaspe peninsula, nelson sergerie, wind farms

Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

SAINT-CYPRIEN – The Eastern Energy Alliance believes it could benefit from the current situation in the United States, where U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order ending federal funding for wind farms built in the United States.

That is the impression Michel Lagacé, the president of the Alliance had as the annual Quebec Association of Renewable Energy Producers (AQPER) Convention finished on February 12. “The American situation leads the industry to question how Mr. Trump’s multiple decrees will have an impact or not on the development of renewable sectors in Quebec and those that have ambitions on the American market,” summarizes Mr. Lagacé.

What could be positive – and this is my personal analysis – is that the federal government can have a significant impact on federal lands, but on state lands, the states are still able to make decisions. Will the turbine market become less interesting and have better prices in Quebec? That could be interesting,” says the president while the alliance must build several parks within four years.

President Joe Biden’s Buy American Act has had a significant impact on the American market. However, the shift towards American oil and gas drilling is also changing the situation in the energy market.

Despite the changes in the U.S. industry remains positive. “In Quebec, we have more oil exploration and exploitation and we have turned to renewable energy,” recalls the president, mentioning the Legault government’s shift to wind power.

“We’ve been talking about an additional 5,000 to 6,000 megawatts on the alliance’s territory for a while, particularly in the Gaspésie. 5,000 to 6,000 megawatts is the equivalent of an investment of $15 to $18 billion in today’s dollars,” recalls Mr. Lagacé.

The Alliance obtained 1,426 megawatts to develop following the latest calls for tenders. The Pohénégamook-Picard-Saint-Antonin-Wolastokuk 1 wind farm, located in the MRCs of Rivière-du-Loup and Témiscouata will generate 350 megawatts in partnership with Invenergy. Construction will begin soon after obtaining authorization from the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE).

Eastern Energy Alliance which brings together the regions of Montmagny-L’Islet, Lower Saint Lawrence, Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands

“In the next few weeks, we will start clearing the forest. We’re waiting for the permits. We have received the certificate of acceptance for construction. After that, all the permits will have to be obtained before we can start production on December 1, 2026. That’s relatively quick, and to paraphrase a former prime minister, we’re ready,’ says the Chairman.

Indigenous businesses from the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation will be able to collaborate on the construction of the park. The one in Madawaska, in Dégelis and Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande, in Témiscouata, in a tripartite partnership with EDF and Hydro-Québec for 270 megawatts will be before the BAPE on February 25.

“This is a necessary step. I listened to citizens’ concerns last November, and everything revolves around the maple syrup potential and people understood that EDF had no ambition to go there. There were also concerns about ecological corridors and the project only affects 1% of the territory,” adds the president. For the other parks, the Forêt Domaniale in the Montmagny region, in Chaudière-Appalaches, which will have a capacity of 180 megawatts in partnership with EDF, the process is moving forward, as is that of Pohénégamook-Picard-Saint-Antonin-Wolastokuk 2.

“All the projects led by the alliance, the 1,426 megawatts obtained in 2021 and 2023, are progressing rather quickly, and we are very happy about it,” notes Mr. Lagacé.

The parks must be delivered by December 2029 at the latest. Once operational, these parks will generate $1 billion in shared profits over the next 30 years for the Alliance’s member municipalities and the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation. If 6,000 megawatts were developed, the royalties would be enormous.

“1,426 that produce $1 billion in profits. You make 5,000 more, you easily multiply by three. We are perhaps at $4 billion and perhaps more. It can be dizzying,” imagines the president.

The bottleneck that prevents the energy produced east of Rivière-du-Loup from being sent to major centres is becoming a thing of the past.

“The Alliance is making every effort to capture and produce these famous electrons and bring them to where they must be consumed,” says Mr. Lagacé.

As for the 375-kilowatt line that must be built towards Matapedia, the schedule is in the 2032-2035 horizon. “In the case of the Alliance, we will look at how we can exploit the deposits before the arrival of the cables,” he says.

The full potential of these projects could be reached around 2040.

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