Hydro-Québec announces plans to build an electrolyzer facility with a capacity of about 90 MW, to supply green hydrogen and oxygen to the Recyclage Carbone Varennes (RCV) plant project.
The RCV project will transform non-recyclable waste into biofuels, providing an alternative to landfill.
The water electrolysis plant, to be built in Varennes, near Montréal, will require an investment of about $200 million from Hydro-Québec, the sole shareholder. The plant will generate about 11,100 metric tonnes of hydrogen and 88,000 metric tonnes of oxygen annually. The hydrogen produced will be used as the gasification agent at the RCV biofuel plant, which will be built in a neighboring lot at an estimated cost of over $680 million.
“Thanks to our fleet of over 60 hydroelectric generating stations with a total output of 36,700 MW, the power produced by Hydro-Québec is over 99% clean. This puts Québec in a prime position to take on a leading role in the production of green hydrogen,” said Hydro-Québec’s President and Chief Executive Officer Sophie Brochu.
Hydro-Québec is Canada’s largest electricity producer and its sole shareholder is the Québec government. Its research facilities, collectively called the Institut de recherche d’Hydro-Québec (IREQ), conduct R&D in energy-related fields, including energy storage.
