Canada’s largest energy-producing province Quebec is to spend C$25B (US$22.5B) on dams and power plants over the next ten years with the aim of increasing production by 10%.
The new projects, from provincially owned utility Hydro-Quebec, will eventually produce a total of 4500MW by 2015 as part of an energy strategy released by the Quebec government.
The plan, announced by Quebec Premier Jean Charest, comes after the province’s production capacity declined by 8% over the past decade – despite demand increasing by 6%.
Quebec’s hydroelectric resources totalled 41,340MW at the end of 2005.