Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault Allocates $210 Million for Regional Clean Power Grid Interconnections

MONTREAL — Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault announced on Monday the distribution of $210 million in federal clean grid investments through the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs) to engineer and construct high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter substations and bidirectional regional transmission interties connecting the provincial electrical grids of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick.

The interprovincial transmission expansion enables the dynamic bilateral exchange of zero-emission electricity, allowing Quebec's immense hydroelectric reservoir storage to back up Ontario's nuclear and wind generation, while transmitting clean power eastward to eliminate coal and heavy oil generation in Atlantic Canada.

Connecting Canadian Grids to Achieve a 100% Net-Zero Electricity System Canada's electricity grid is historically fragmented into east-west provincial silos with greater transmission capacity flowing south to the United States than between neighboring provinces. Building robust interprovincial interties allows regions with abundant hydro storage to act as natural clean batteries for neighboring provinces.

"Canada is blessed with some of the cleanest electricity resources on earth, but we must connect our provinces so clean power can flow wherever and whenever it is needed," Minister Steven Guilbeault said in Montreal. "By investing $210 million into interprovincial transmission lines and smart grid substations, we are creating a united, resilient Canadian clean energy grid that lowers household electricity bills, phases out polluting fossil fuels, and powers our clean industrial economy with reliable, made-in-Canada electricity."

Regional Grid Interconnection Projects Funded The $210 million package finances:

• Quebec-Ontario 500-kV HVDC Intertie Expansion: $95 million for bidirectional converter stations enabling up to 2,000 megawatts of flexible emergency power transfers.
• New Brunswick-Quebec Clean Power Connection: $75 million for substation modernizations displacing fossil-fuel generation in the Maritimes.
• Automated Smart Grid Dynamic Line Rating Sensors: $40 million to install real-time transmission line thermal sensors maximizing current capacity across interprovincial boundaries.

Provincial utility executives, renewable energy developers, and electrical engineering federations commended the federal investment, highlighting that regional grid integration is the most cost-effective path to achieving deep national decarbonization.