Nergica is well-equipped to play an active role in the rollout of the green hydrogen sector in Quebec

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Following the announcement of Quebec’s strategy on green hydrogen and bioenergy (“the Strategy”), Nergica intends to leverage its expertise in renewable energy to support the deployment of the green hydrogen sector in Quebec.

Already well-established as a center for research and innovation in renewable energy, Nergica has a research facility fully equipped to carry out efforts to develop innovative solutions and processes for the production, storage, and integration of green hydrogen into microgrids.

Proud of its expertise in this area, Nergica enthusiastically welcomes the priority actions announced in the Strategy that call for the production of green hydrogen, such as:

• the production of synthetic fuels from renewable sources;
• energy storage and grid balancing to manage winter peak demand, particularly as a complement to wind power;
• replacing fossil fuels in off-grid systems;
• the production of gas from renewable sources through methanation.

To this end, Nergica is currently developing microgrid management strategies aimed at reducing or replacing the use of fossil fuels in off-grid systems, particularly through the use of hydrogen as storage solution to better manage energy surpluses and thereby ensure greater grid resilience. Furthermore, these efforts are already aligned with the Strategy, as they also aim to encourage the involvement of local and Indigenous communities in the development of green hydrogen and bioenergy sectors—one of the Strategy’s key objectives.

Every coin has two sides

On the other hand, the Strategy reveals, more than anything else, the many challenges that must be overcome to achieve the GHG reduction targets for 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Although the Strategy reaffirms the Quebec government’s goal of increasing bioenergy production by 50% by 2030—which corresponds to adding approximately 70 PJ of energy— no such target is set for green hydrogen production.

Furthermore, although the Strategy places great emphasis on the inventory of available lignocellulosic biomass for producing first- and second-generation bioenergy, it overlooks the potential of algal biomass for producing third-generation bioenergy. The need for green hydrogen and CO2  required for the production of synthetic fuels or fourth-generation bioenergy are also absent from the targets announced in the Strategy.

Although the Strategy does not explicitly mention it, we must acknowledge that the rollout of the green hydrogen sector will be slowed by the slow pace of expansion in renewable electricity generation capacity planned by Hydro-Québec.