PRESS RELEASE
FOR BROADCAST ON MONDAY, MAY 15 AT 7:00 A.M.
Montreal, May 15, 2023 – The Quebec government largely underestimates the energy efficiency potential, which could even double in the coming years. However, the consultation on the supervision and development of clean energies in Quebec, which is being held today, focuses exclusively on production. Demand management is not on the agenda of the event which brings together several experts from the energy sector.
According to Hydro-Québec's assessments, making investments in energy savings is becoming an increasingly profitable option. The profitable potential for energy savings would have increased considerably since the call for tenders for wind energy last summer and it could double if we decide to build new dams. In the residential sector alone, the technical-economic potential could thus explode and go from 8 TWh to 20 TWh (+125 %) based on the calculation of avoided costs used by Hydro-Québec experts to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures.
“As a general rule, the more expensive the next kilowatt hour is to produce, the more beneficial it will be to save. And more energy-saving measures that weren't cost-effective before are now becoming cost-effective. In 2013, the avoided cost was around 8 cents per KWh, it would have recently increased to around 11 cents and it could double if the government embarks on the construction of new dams,” according to Jean-Pierre Finet, analyst and spokesperson. word from the Group of Environmental Energy Organizations (ROEÉ) of which Fondation Rivières is a member.
“We are preparing to artificialize our last natural jewels when we could obtain the equivalent of half of our new needs just by consuming less energy. And we’re not even talking about consuming better yet,” according to André Bélanger, general director of Fondation Rivières.
As a participant in today's consultation, Jean-Pierre Finet is sorry that there is no time on the agenda to discuss demand management.
“New production costs are exploding and we are preparing to pass this bill on to future generations when we must quickly look at the profitable potential in energy efficiency,” adds Jean-Pierre Finet.
About thirty environmental, social, citizen and union groups denounced on April 27 the discrepancy between the Prime Minister's commitment to holding a "real societal debate" on energy and the format of the consultation announced the day before by the office of the Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy, M . Pierre Fitzgibbon.
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Documentation
- Studies of technico-economic potential in energy, Hydro-Québec. See Figure 4 Energy saving potential curve in the residential sector, p. 33 (shown above)
Source
Sophie Lachance
Communications and Mobilization Manager
Fondation Rivières
514-272-2666, ext. 307
