Diversified business
With more than $9 billion in assets, Énergir, LP is a diversified energy business whose mission is to meet the energy needs of approximately 535,000 customers and the communities it serves in an increasingly sustainable way. Énergir, LP is the largest natural gas distribution company in Quebec; through its joint ventures, it also generates electricity from wind power .
And through its subsidiaries and other investments, Énergir, LP has a presence in the United States, where it generates electricity from hydraulic, wind, and solarsprings; it is also the largest electricity distributor and the sole natural gas distributor in the State of Vermont. Énergir, LP values energy efficiency and invests its resources and continues its efforts in innovative energy projects such as renewable natural gas and liquefied and compressed natural gas .
Through its subsidiaries, it also provides a variety of energy services. Énergir, LP strives to become the partner of choice for those seeking a better energy future.
Our energy distribution activities encompass natural gas distribution in Quebec and Vermont, as well as electricity distribution in United States.
Natural gas distribution
Energir
Energir distributes approximately 97% of the natural gas consumed in Quebec. In order to supply its customers, the company relies on a varied portfolio of transportation and storage tools. Energir has transportation capacity on the TCPL and Union Gas systems that it uses to deliver natural gas to its exclusive service area, either from Western Canada or Dawn, in Ontario. The storage capacities contracted or owned by Energir enable it to manage fluctuations in its customers' consumption. Energir has contracted storage capacity in Quebec and at Dawn. Energir buys the natural gas required to supply its customers or receives natural gas from customers who have opted to secure their own supply of natural gas. On an annual basis, Energir submits its supply plan to the Régie de l'énergie for approval.
Energir is regulated by the Régie de l'énergie, which annually sets the transportation, load-balancing and distribution rates , as well as the supply, cap-and-trade-system (CATS) and compression rates on a monthly basis. The Régie also oversees Energir's operating, network-development and natural gas distribution activities.
Vermont Gas Systems
Vermont Gas Systems (VGS), a subsidiary of Energir, owns and operates a natural gas transportation and distribution network of over 1,300 km in Vermont, United States. VGS is the sole gas distributor in Vermont, serving more than 50,000 mainly residential and commercial customers. VGS procures its natural gas from Western Canada and Dawn, in Ontario. The natural gas is transported and delivered via the TCPL network to its main pipeline, located on the Canada-Vermont border. VGS is regulated by the Vermont Public Service Board (VPSB), which annually approves its base rates while supply rates are adjusted each quarter using the current rate adjustment mechanism.
Electricity distribution
Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (GMP) , a subsidiary of Energir, is the largest electricity distributorin Vermont, serving over 70% of the market and nearly 265,000 customers. GMP's core business includes the distribution, transportation, generation, purchase and sale of electricity in Vermont and, to a minor degree, electricity transportation in New Hampshire and electricity generation in the states of New York, Maine and Connecticut. The GMP network comprises over 2,700 km of overhead transmission lines, 16,300 km of overhead distribution lines and 2,000 km of underground distribution lines, located mainly in Vermont but also extending to New Hampshire and New York. Although it produces a portion of the electricity it distributes, most of the electricity is purchased from various producers.
Its supply portfolio consists of multiple generation sources, the main one being hydroelectricity, and to a lesser extent, nuclear, wind and solar power. GMP also owns 44 hydroelectric generating stations in Vermont, which account for approximately 8% of its supply portfolio. Moreover, as the only electric utility in Vermont that owns and operates commercial-scale wind farms (through its KCW wind farm with an installed capacity of 63 megawatts located in Lowell and the Searsburg facility with an installed capacity of 6 megawatts) and given its installed capacity of 7.9 megawatts of solar power generation, GMP is the largest wind and solar power producer in the state. GMP is also actively developing other renewable energy projects, such as Cow Power , which converts manure from dairy cows into clean electric energy.
Like VGS, GMP is regulated by the VPSB. Every year, VPSB sets the electricity rates using a cost-of-service method. However, a quarterly adjustment mechanism is in place to ensure that any additional electricity supply and transmission costs or savings not anticipated during the rate-setting process, are recovered from or returned to customers.
Velco and Transco
GMP owns a significant interest in Transco and in Velco. Transco's main activities are planning, building, operating and maintaining an electricity transmission system in Vermont. Transco owns and operates a high-voltage electricity transmission system, enabling it to offer electricity transmission services to over 17 electricity distributors in Vermont and two in New Hampshire. It also supplies electricity to New England through ISO-NE, which manages power generation and transmission operations in that region. Velco operates a transmission line used to transmit the electricity that New England electricity distributors purchase from Hydro-Quebec. Velco also acts as manager of Transco, giving it the power to manage, at its discretion, Transco's day-to-day operations.
Énergir owns significant financial interests in three natural gas transportation companies: Trans Québec & Maritimes (TQM) Pipeline, Champion Pipeline and Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS).
Trans Québec & Maritimes (TQM) Pipeline
The Company holds a 50% interest in TQM Pipeline, which operates a gas pipeline in Québec that connects upstream with that of TCPL and downstream with that of PNGTS and the Energir network. Its activities are regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
Pipeline Champion
Champion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energir, operates two pipelines that cross the Ontario border and supply Energir's distribution system in northwestern Quebec. Champion's activities are regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) with respect to revenue determination, tolls, construction and the operation of its network.
This segment encompasses non-regulated energy production activities related to the Seigneurie de Beaupré wind farms as well as Green Mountain Power and Standard Solar's activities.
Lordship of Beaupre Wind Farms
Wind Farms 2 and 3
Wind Farms 2 and 3 is an equal-share joint venture of Boralex and Beaupré Éole, which is, in turn, 51%-owned by Énergir and 49%-owned by Valener . The core business of this joint venture consists in owning and operating two wind farms with an installed capacity of 272 megawatts on the private lands of Seigneurie de Beaupré . These wind farms were put into commercial service in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, and all of the electricity they generate is sold to Hydro-Québec, under 20-year contracts.
Windfarm 4
Farm 4 is an equal-share joint venture of Boralex and Beaupré Éole 4, which is, in turn 51%-owned by Énergir and 49%-owned by Valener. This joint venture's core business consists in owning and operating a wind farm with an installed capacity of 68 megawatts on the private lands of Seigneurie de Beaupré. It was put into commercial service on December 1, 2014, and all of the electricity it generates is sold to Hydro-Québec under a 20-year contract.
Green Mountain Power
GMP is a leader in wind and solar energy generation in Vermont. The company owns a 7,700-panel solar farm in Vermont and two wind farms in the US, and has the largest hydroelectric power plant in New England.
Through its range of subsidiaries, Energir sells, rents and offers financing and maintenance services for natural gas-powered equipment. It also transports and stores natural gas for distributors, transport companies and customers.Energir pursues complementary natural gas activities by selling goods and services in the energy sector through various companies.
Energy services
Gaz Métro LNG
Gaz Métro LNG is a subsidiary of Énergir that was created to respond to the current and anticipated growth in demand in the liquefied natural gas (LNG)market. The role of Gaz Métro LNG is to structure the supply of LNG and to ensure the liquefaction capacity of the Énergir LSR plant in east Montréal. Through LNG, it will also meet the natural gas demand of industries in regions that are distant from the gas network, depending on their needs and distance from the network, as well as offer LNG supply solutions by truck or ship.
Gaz Métro Energy Solutions
Gaz Métro Energy Solutions is an Énergir subsidiary created in the third quarter of 2015 to ensure, among other things, LNG storage, treatment and regasification to meet the peak energy needs of the TransCanada Energy power plant in Bécancour and similar projects.
Gaz Metro Transport Solutions
A recognized leader in natural gas for vehicles in Eastern Canada and the Northeastern US, Gaz Métro Transport Solutions (GMTS) offers integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling services to the industrial, as well as the road, rail and maritime transportation sectors. The company designs and builds turn-key compressed and liquefied natural gas refueling stations. It also rents stations, according to the personalized needs of its customers. A subsidiary of Énergir, GMTS services private and public liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations, as well as offering a rental service for cryogenic tanks and a logistical LNG delivery service for its customers.
Energize CCU
Énergir CCU, subsidiary of Énergir, owns and operates three distinct steam, hot water and cold water networks used to heat and cool commercial buildings. Its three-kilometre network serves 2 million square meters of varied facilities and meets the energy needs of one third of the commercial space in downtown Montreal.
Storage
Énergir owns an interest in Intragaz, whose main activity is underground natural gas storage. This activity fits within Énergir's overall mission, as natural gas storage is an integral part of its supply chain. The respective ownership interests of Énergir and ENGIE (formerly GDF SUEZ), the other co-owner of Intragaz, range from 40% to 60% depending on the entities that make up Intragaz.
Intragaz operates the only two underground natural gas storage facilities in Québec in Énergir's service area, and Énergir is also Intragaz's only customer. Its rates are approved by the Régie and established on a cost-of-service basis.