Hydro-Québec To Supply The US With Enough Renewable Electricity To Power 3 Million EVs
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Hydro-Québec and Central Maine Power Company (“CMP”) a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE:AGR), jointly announced the successful conclusion of contract negotiations with the Massachusetts electric distribution companies (EDCs) for the New England Clean Energy Connect (“NECEC”) 100% hydropower project.
“We have made important progress with regard to this ground-breaking 20-year agreement, moving us closer towards decarbonization in the Northeast,” said Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydro-Québec. “In the coming months we’ll be working closely with Central Maine Power to complete this important new interconnection project which will not only reduce carbon emissions, but will also bring price stability and supply reliability to the region.”
The contracts with the Massachusetts EDCs provide for the delivery of approximately 9.45 terawatt-hours annually of clean and reliable baseload power, for twenty years. The energy will be supplied by Hydro-Québec’s vast hydropower generating fleet.
We look forward to the next steps in the review and approval process.
What this represents for EVs in the US
Driving electric is one of the best ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and contribute to the reduction of GHG. How do we make it even better? By using renewable energy to charge your EV. How many electric vehicles can 9,45 terawatt-hours power ? This chart illustrates the math.
| Evs | miles/year | efficiency (mi/kWh) | kWh | MWh | GWh | TWh |
| 1 | 12,000 | 4 | 3,000 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1,000 | 12,000,000 | 4 | 3,000,000 | 3,000 | 3 | 0 |
| 1,000,000 | 12,000,000,000 | 4 | 3,000,000,000 | 3,000,000 | 3,000 | 3 |
| 2,000,000 | 24,000,000,000 | 4 | 6,000,000,000 | 6,000,000 | 6,000 | 6 |
| 3,000,000 | 36,000,000,000 | 4 | 9,000,000,000 | 9,000,000 | 9,000 | 9 |
| 4,000,000 | 48,000,000,000 | 4 | 12,000,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 12,000 | 12 |
| 5,000,000 | 60,000,000,000 | 4 | 15,000,000,000 | 15,000,000 | 15,000 | 15 |
The Hydro-Québec deal will provide enough renewable electricity to power over 3 million electrical vehicles. According to Plug In America, there are currently 863,000 EVs in America.
But how clean is Hydro-Québec’s renewable energy? 99,8% of its electricity comes from renewable sources. Now that’s pretty clean.
Once the deal is done, you can let everybody know that your electric car isn’t powered by coal anymore, but by 99,8% renewable hydro-electricity.
Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica's Comment Policy
