"Îles-de-la-Madeleine: why do you continue to generate electricity using oil? You could deliver power by underwater cable with no spills!"
A question from
Jean-PierreBrossard February 08, 2016
As on all social media, we post questions exactly as we receive them. They are then translated.
Our answer
On Îles-de-la-Madeleine electricity is indeed generated by an oil-fueled thermal generating station given the distance between the islands and Hydro-Québec’s main grid.
We have recently publicly shared our intentions to reduce the carbon footprint of our off-grid systems by reducing oil consumption. A request for proposals is currently underway for a 6 MW wind farm that would be integrated into the Îles-de-la-Madeleine off grid system.
That being said, we are always on the lookout for projects that would allow us to reduce the overall cost for the generation of a kilowatthour as well as reduce the carbon footprint on Îles-de-la-Madeleine and in all the other communities supplied by off-grid systems. Should such projects meet our criteria, we would do our utmost to transition to a generation source that would allow us to reduce costs and emissions.