TES Canada aims to produce up to 70,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen in Shawinigan if the company manages to carry out all facets of its project, which involves the construction of more than a hundred wind turbines and a solar park. to supplement its energy needs.
The promoters confirmed on Friday the details which had already been revealed by La Presse. The project bill is expected to reach 4 billion if we take into account the energy self-production portion.
“The economic benefits will be significant for Shawinigan and the Mauricie region and will allow Quebec to position itself as a leader in decarbonization,” says the general director of TES Canada, Éric Gauthier.
Green hydrogen – which requires a lot of energy – is considered an alternative solution in heavy industry (cement plants, aluminum plants and steelworks), still dependent on fossil natural gas. The company’s hydrogen electrolyzer will have an estimated capacity of 500 MW.
Currently, 95% of the world’s hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis of water. This process involves passing an electric current through water. This allows its molecules to be broken down to then extract the hydrogen. We speak of green hydrogen when the current used comes from a renewable energy source, such as hydroelectricity.
A subsidiary of the Belgian firm Tree Energy Solutions, TES Canada was co-founded by businesswoman France Chrétien Desmarais, daughter of former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and wife of André Desmarais, deputy chairman of the board of Power Corporation of Canada . The company convinced the Legault government to offer it an energy block of 150 megawatts (MW), the equivalent of approximately 30 times the power of the Bell Center.
Since the energy provided by Hydro-Québec will be insufficient, the developers wish to erect more than a hundred wind turbines – which would constitute one of the largest parks of its kind in the province – within a radius of around thirty kilometers. around Shawinigan.
This could represent 110 to 160 wind turbines, according to our calculations. Twelve municipalities were identified and informed. It remains to be seen how their citizens will react. To try to allay their fears, TES Canada is planning three public information sessions. They will take place in Shawinigan (November 21), Saint-Adelphe (November 27) and Saint-Narcisse (November 28).
The TES Canada Quebec complex will have two facets. There will be the production of green hydrogen as well as “renewable and 100% green” synthetic natural gas. Énergir is a potential customer. This synthetic natural gas would be sent to industrial customers of the Quebec distributor through its network, which serves the industrial park of this city.
“To decarbonize Quebec’s economy, we must diversify our renewable energy sources,” says the Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, in a press release. The TES project is an excellent addition to our energy mix. »
Founded in 2019, Tree Energy Solutions is still considered a start-up and its Canadian subsidiary has existed for barely a year. In July 2022, Tree Energy Solution was valued at around 940 million (700 million euros) according to the Financial Times. Institutions such as the British bank HSBC and the Italian financial group UniCredit are among its “partners and shareholders”.
Throughout the world, its projects are still in the development phase. In the United States, the owner of TES Canada is collaborating, among others, with the French energy giant Total to potentially establish a synthetic natural gas production site.
