Hydro-Québec has pulled the Petit Mécatina River hydroelectric project out of its drawers where it has been sleeping for 20 years to advance it to the next stage, that of field studies which will begin shortly.

This involves the construction of two power plants that would transform water from the river that flows into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 400 kilometers east of Sept-Îles, which would add 1,200 megawatts to the production capacity. of Hydro-Quebec.

“The fact that we are conducting preliminary studies does not mean that a project will be developed,” the state-owned company said in a statement. It remains that this is the first time that a new hydroelectric project has been considered by Hydro-Québec since the construction of the La Romaine complex, at the turn of the 2000s.