Major excursion: The impacts of Québec's energy transition

Québec has set itself an ambitious goal: by 2050, renewable energy is supposed to completely replace fossil fuels – even though the province’s electricity demand is expected to double by then. Already today, Québec’s electricity demands are almost entirely met by hydropower. Sounds like a climate success story.

But during the 4,600 km we traveled on our excursion through Canada’s largest province, our students, led by Dr. David Gampe and Prof. Ralf Ludwig, learned first-hand that a successful, fair, and truly sustainable energy transition is anything but simple.

Here’s what we discovered along the way:

• Montreal: At Ouranos, scientists, policymakers and industry partners come together to study the impacts of climate change and how society can adapt. Their work spans extreme weather simulations, climate indicators, historical reconstructions, and interactive tools that help stakeholders plan for the future.
• Chicoutimi: At the Alma aluminum smelter, we saw how hydropower fuels one of Québec’s largest industries, making the province one of the world’s most sustainable aluminum producers.
• James Bay & La Grande Hydropower installations: Here, the promises of green energy collide with lived realities. The 142-meter Robert-Bourassa Dam, holds back a man-made inland lake. In total, the chain of hydropower stations installed across several of these lakes, and the connected river, provide about half of Québec’s electricity. For the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, these projects meant: giving up their cultural sites and hunting grounds which were flooded in the process as well as relocating their homes on Fort George Island due to expected erosion and move to the shore of the river instead.

At the end of the excursion, we then asked our students a (at first glance) simple question: would you rather divert yet another river for hydropower if it meant shutting down a coal plant? Intuitively, one would opt for the renewable energy source. But after experiencing the trade-offs firsthand, our students were more critical. Energy transition in Québec isn’t just about replacing fossil fuels, but an issue of balancing technology, ecology, and social justice.