Decarbonization: We want to hear from you

As you know, Énergir has adopted its Focus on 2030 vision to support its actions aimed at achieving a lower carbon economy and do its part to fight climate change.

In this context, several concrete actions are being taken to responsibly support our customers in this energy transition. 2021 has been a busy year:

Signing of dual-energy agreement

Énergir has entered into an electricity-natural gas dual-energy agreement with Hydro-Québec that is expected to significantly reduce GHG emissions in the construction sector. The agreement is intended to encourage the replacement of heating systems that only use natural gas with dual-energy systems where natural gas is only used during very cold weather. The agreement, which to our knowledge is the only one of its kind, could, subject to approval by the Régie de l’énergie, result in a reduction in GHG emissions of up to 500,000 tonnes CO2-eq by 2030. For the time being, the first iteration of the program is limited to the residential sector. However, pilot projects at the commercial and institutional levels are under way.

Increase in renewable natural gas supply and simplified purchasing process

There have been ongoing developments regarding renewable natural gas (RNG) with the recent conclusion of numerous RNG supply contracts, including the supply contract with the new Warwick production site in the Centre-du-Québec region that was commissioned and began delivering RNG to Énergir. Several other sites are under construction or at the planning stage.

RNG inventories now allow for a simplified purchasing process: all Énergir customers can now request and receive confirmation of requested volumes within 7 to 30 days. The purchase remains flexible and without a long-term commitment since the quantity of RNG that is purchased can be changed with notice of 60 business days.

Through these actions, Énergir intends to deliver, for consumption by its customers, at least 10% of RNG by 2030.

Adoption of green hydrogen roadmap

Énergir has confirmed its interest in green hydrogen with the adoption of a “roadmap” for this sector. The objective is to guide the review of the many strategic and operational options related to hydrogen. Énergir has applied to the Régie de l’énergie for authorization to invest in a project to assess the interchangeability of hydrogen with natural gas in its distribution system.

Responsible procurement

For 2021, Énergir acquired 20% of its system gas through its responsible procurement of natural gas initiative.