The Quebec government says it wants 77 percent of the energy consumed in the province by 2050 to come from renewables, up from the current 48 percent.
Energy Minister Bernard Drainville made the comments as he announced the province’s 25-year resource management plan in Varennes, Que., northeast of Montreal.
Describing the goal as ambitious, Drainville says by 2050 Quebec’s share of energy from fossil fuels will drop to 23 percent from 52 percent.
Getting there will require $87 billion of investment in such things as upgrades to hydroelectric power plants and in new wind, solar and bioenergy sources.
That money is mostly in addition to the $200 billion the province’s hydro utility plans to spend by 2035 to increase its capacity and service reliability.
Officials said a small portion of the $87 billion announced today overlaps with Hydro-Québec’s $200-billion plan, but they couldn’t say exactly how much.
