Former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon offered megablocks of electricity to the highly uncertain project

The Legault government has granted a massive electricity to hydrogen project, the implementation of which is far from guaranteed.

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In June, Pierre Fitzgibbon, then finance, innovation and energy minister, awarded 307 megawatts (MW) to the German company Hi2Gen. It's the second-largest power block Quebec has ever granted, after Northvolt awarded 354 megawatts last year.

Hy2Gen plans to build a green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Baie-Comou on the North Shore. Its final product, ammonium nitrate, supplies French giant EPC's explosives factory in Fermont, and its main customer is Australian company Champion Iron, which operates a nearby iron mine.

The company is talking about opening in 2030, but it is not yet certain that the plant will go live. Hy2gen received its megawatts before completing a preliminary engineering study of the project.

“We have all the results of this study [au début de 2026]We will set up a system to see if we invest,” he said Newspaper Pietro Di Zanno, President of Hy2gen Canada.

Pietro di Jano

Photo courtesy of HY2GEN

But why not wait until basic engineering is done before requesting a power pack?

“We can't start without confirmation of the electricity block, otherwise our investors will say: “But we're giving you this money to do engineering and you're not sure you have electricity yet,” explained Mr. Di Zanno.

“Walkie”

Normand Mousseau, a physics professor at the University of Montreal, can't understand Quebec's decision to grant more electricity to a project he considers “far-fetched.”

“It really seems a bit risky to me because at this point, there are other industries that are ready to invest and don't have access to electricity,” he lamented.

Like Northvolt, Hy2gen is a young European startup that still has little industrial experience. But, unlike the struggling battery maker, it has yet to request financial support from the government (besides the preferential electricity tariff).

Huge subsidies?

However, Mr Mousso does not see how green hydrogen projects can be viable without significant state support.

“The only way to keep these projects alive is to heavily subsidize the products that come from them,” warned the energy expert.

Last month, Hydro-Québec's CEO, Mr. Fitzgibbon, argued that foreign companies were “probably” allocated too much electricity to the detriment of local companies.

“I think we need to rebalance things,” he told the National Assembly.