Premier François Legault Enacts Stricter Energy Allocation Rules for High-Load Industrial Applicants

QUEBEC CITY, QC — Quebec Premier François Legault formalized strict new provincial energy allocation guidelines Wednesday, directing Hydro-Québec to prioritize domestic critical mineral processing and green metallurgy over foreign hyperscale data center projects.

Policy Framework and Megawatt Allocations

Under ministerial directives established pursuant to Bill 69, industrial electricity requests exceeding 5 megawatts will undergo mandatory economic-benefit scoring before grid connection permits are granted. Applications will be evaluated on high-wage job creation per megawatt, local supply chain integration, and greenhouse gas displacement value.

Premier Legault emphasized that with Hydro-Québec projecting domestic demand growth of over 100 terawatt-hours by 2035, the province's clean hydroelectric baseload must be strategically reserved to anchor the Bécancour electric vehicle battery corridor and decarbonize primary aluminum smelting in the Saguenay.

Industrial Reactions and Economic Debate

International technology firms and data center consortiums cautioned that restrictive grid allocation criteria could divert commercial cloud infrastructure capital to neighboring jurisdictions. However, domestic manufacturing leaders and labour federations strongly supported the directive, arguing that processing Quebec's lithium and nickel locally yields significantly higher long-term GDP returns.

Hydro-Québec confirmed it currently has over 3,000 megawatts of industrial connection requests pending review under the newly codified scoring matrix.

Next Steps in Implementation

The Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy will publish the first quarterly round of approved industrial energy allocations in November 2026.