2009 Scenario Reliability Assessment - NERC

Scenario Reliability Self-Assessments“Hydropower relies on the water cycle, which is driven by the sun, thus it’s a renewable powersource.” 87“The DOE program conducts research to improve two renewable energy technologies:hydropower and wind energy.” 88“Competitive Electric Power from Renewable Energy About 10 percent of United States electricity comes from hydropower; More than 75 percent of the nation’s renewable energy is generated by hydropower.” 89“Hydropower is using water to power machinery or make electricity. Water constantly movesthrough a vast global cycle, evaporating from lakes and oceans, forming clouds, precipitating asrain or snow, and then flowing back down to the ocean. The energy of this water cycle, which isdriven by the sun, can be tapped to produce electricity. Hydropower uses a fuel – water – that isnot reduced or used up in the process. Because the water cycle is an endless, constantlyrecharging system, hydropower is considered a renewable energy.” 90“The 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development identified all hydro as arenewable source of energy to be supported by the international community.” 91Region DescriptionThe Québec area is winter peaking. The all-time internal peak demand was 37,230 MW set onJanuary 16, 2009. The summer peak demands are in the order of 21,000 MW. The installedcapacity in January 2009 was 41,689 MW, of which 38,953 MW (93.4 percent) washydroelectric capacity. There are more than 140 generating stations on the Québec electricalsystem.The transmission voltages on the Québec’s system are 735, 315, 230, 161 and 120 kV.Transmission line length totals about 33,060 km (20,540 miles).Québec electrical system is a separate Interconnection from the Eastern Interconnection intowhich other NPCC Areas are interconnected. TransÉnergie, the Transmission Owner andOperator in Québec, has interconnections with Ontario, New York, New England and theMaritimes. Interconnections consist of either HVdc ties or radial generation or load to and fromneighbouring systems.The population served is around 7 million and the Québec area covers about 1,668,000 km 2(643,848 square miles). Most of the population is grouped along the St-Lawrence River axis andthe largest load area is in the Southwest part of the province, mainly around the GreaterMontréal area.87 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/hydro_ad.html88 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/program_Areas.html89 http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/about.html90http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/hydro_how.html91 http://www.hydropower.org/downloads/F4%percent20Hydropower%percent20Making%percent20a%percent20Significant%percent20Contribution%percent20Worldwide.pdfPage 1182009 Scenario Reliability Assessment