INTERVIEW: HYDRO-QUÉBEC
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE – LESSONS LEARNED FROM A HYDROPOWER GIANT Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Hydro-Québec about the pioneering La Grande River complex, the importance of reflection, and the company’s vision for its hydropower system to become a natural battery in the American northeast. By Daniel Baksi The story of Hydro-Québec begins more than seventy years ago. The early decades of the 20th Century in Québec had seen the development of an efficient and expensive electricity sector, dominated by the interests of a select group of privately-owned utilities. Recognizing this, 4 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
demand for a public hydroelectric utility in Québec began to grow. It was in 1944 that the Government of Québec took the decision to nationalize power production within the state, leading to the establishment of Hydro-Québec as a public utility, responsible for the generation, transmis-
