Canada’s, Quebec’s, and Newfoundland and Labrador’s governments and Hydro-Québec’s and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro’s chief executive officers have highlighted a landmark deal for the Churchill Falls Generating Station’s expansion and the Gull Island hydroelectricity project’s development.
According to the announcement from Prime Minister Mark Carney, Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, NL Premier Tony Wakeham, and the CEOs, the projects amount to almost $70 billion, comprising the biggest clean energy investment in North America.
“Through this partnership, we are supporting the energy transition and enabling the growth of our economy through renewable energy, while ensuring our energy independence,” Fréchette said in the news release.
“We are finally replacing the notorious 1969 Churchill Falls deal and the 2024 MOU with a new deal that will guarantee us more power, more value, and more transmission,” Wakeham said. “Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will finally be the primary beneficiary of our own resources, with complete control over whether we use our power to develop our economy or sell to outside markets.”
“There are hundreds of billions of dollars in critical minerals in Labrador that we have been unable to develop due to lack of power,” added Lloyd Parrott, NL’s mines and energy minister, in the provincial government’s news release. “With this new deal, we can open up these opportunities and create tens of thousands of new jobs and billions of new economic opportunities for decades to come.”
Agreement’s expected benefits
With 14,000 megawatts of clean and renewable power expected to be produced, the projects will almost triple Churchill Falls’ generating capacity. The projects are anticipated to support 23,000 jobs and add $31 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product until the early 2040s.
“Canada is extending its unique advantage in clean, reliable, and affordable power,” Carney said in the news release. "Because when we master energy, we master our destiny.”
Through $10 billion in federal financing, the Canadian government aims to:
- Upgrade and expand the Churchill Falls Generating Station
- Develop the Gull Island project
- Build the related transmission lines
- Access co-investment opportunities with the Innu of Labrador with a new Labrador onshore wind project
Other project and funding updates
The announcement also touched upon the referral of the Labrador Trough Clean Power, Critical Minerals, and Infrastructure Corridor to the Major Projects Office (MPO).
The announcement also covered funding for the following pre-development projects, among others, in the Labrador region under the First and Last Mile Fund (FLMF) through Natural Resources Canada:
- the Labrador West Transmission Expansion
- the Kami Iron Mine Partnership’s project
- Focus Graphite’s project
- SFP Pointe-Noire’s project
More energy news
Here are some other recent news stories involving energy.
Last July, Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada announced that the federal government and 10 Mi’kmaw communities in Nova Scotia invested more than $4.8 million in renewable energy generation through the installation of solar panels in the communities.
Last June, as directed by the Ontario government, the Independent Electricity System Operator secured 640 megawatts of new electricity capacity via three projects chosen under the capacity stream of the second long-term request for proposals.
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