Editorial: Hydro power’s promise – TheChronicleHerald.ca

Atlantic Canada’s premiers — with a big helping hand from visiting Quebec Premier François Legault — were thinking big this week.

The highlight of the St. John’s meeting was easily the dream of someday providing all of the region’s energy needs with plentiful, economical and renewable hydroelectric power from northern Quebec and Labrador.

There’s no question the capacity is there. Quebec already has more hydro power than it can currently sell. Newfoundland’s controversial 824-megawatt Muskrat Falls dam and generating station is expected to start producing power — which that province doesn’t need — by March. And plans for another massive hydro megaproject in Labrador, Gull Island, are already well advanced and only need buyers to proceed.

For Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where fossil fuels like coal and fuel oil still play vital roles in power generation, hydro’s allure is obvious. That’s also true for P.E.I., since New Brunswick supplies most of the Island’s power needs.

Read More: https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/local-perspectives/editorial-hydro-powers-promise-398551/