# Question to americans and ontarians about Quebec's electricity



## Noctosphere (Nov 15, 2018)

Apparently, there are some states in USA who declined our offers
You see, Quebec's electricity is all clean, no pollution...
We have both hydrodam and eolian (although Legault want to disband eolian)
But the problem here in Quebec with hydroelectricity, is that we produce too much

So, I ask you, ontarians and east-americans, would you agree to get electricity from Quebec?
Instead of having energy from coal and nuclear factory, it will be all clean energy 

IDK about your price though, but we pay around 5 to 9¢/kWh if i got it right
So, your though?


----------



## Taleweaver (Nov 16, 2018)

Yeah, sure. Even better: pack it in and send it our way.  Those Americans are too busy following their president's antics to go with anything but coal (what was it? "Clean coal" or something in that stretch), and our politicians have no real power over our energy distributors (our nuclear power plants start to resemble that one in the Simpsons, and Engie Electrabel's explanations that everything is fine is often interrupted a few days later by field technicians who shut down the plant for repairs  ).

...okay, but on a more serious note: what's your real goal with this thread? The main problem with electricity is that it can hardly be stored, let alone properly transported. So this inquiry is sort of moot: as a consumer, you can't just go out and "buy some electricity". Distributors own the cables, and as such in practice sometimes literally control who provides your electricity. Perhaps if several thousands locals respond that they want cheap and environment friendly electricity (which I assume no customer disagrees on) that it holds some political power, but truth be told, I doubt it'll amount to anything in the real world.


----------



## Noctosphere (Nov 16, 2018)

Taleweaver said:


> Yeah, sure. Even better: pack it in and send it our way.  Those Americans are too busy following their president's antics to go with anything but coal (what was it? "Clean coal" or something in that stretch), and our politicians have no real power over our energy distributors (our nuclear power plants start to resemble that one in the Simpsons, and Engie Electrabel's explanations that everything is fine is often interrupted a few days later by field technicians who shut down the plant for repairs  ).
> 
> ...okay, but on a more serious note: what's your real goal with this thread? The main problem with electricity is that it can hardly be stored, let alone properly transported. So this inquiry is sort of moot: as a consumer, you can't just go out and "buy some electricity". Distributors own the cables, and as such in practice sometimes literally control who provides your electricity. Perhaps if several thousands locals respond that they want cheap and environment friendly electricity (which I assume no customer disagrees on) that it holds some political power, but truth be told, I doubt it'll amount to anything in the real world.


Well, yea we can export electricity, through wire...
just longer wire than it requires to supply Province of Quebec
those wire will cross borders of Quebec with Ontario and USA
that's all, that's how we will export electricity


----------



## Taleweaver (Nov 16, 2018)

Noctosphere said:


> Well, yea we can export electricity, through wire...
> just longer wire than it requires to supply Province of Quebec
> those wire will cross borders of Quebec with Ontario and USA
> that's all, that's how we will export electricity


Going by this post I fear that I might not have expressed myself clearly enough. Sorry about that. 

The thing with electricity is that it has to be used instantly. You cannot conveniently "store some for later" (generators and batteries simply don't have this kind of power...if I'm not mistaken, the action of using pumps to pump water back to the top of a hydroelectric plant is about as much of a "mega battery" as it gets).
Wires obviously transport electricity, but that has its limits as well. Even the best wires tend to leak a small percentage over longer distances. The result: the farther away from a plant, the more you have to pay (or from another perspective: the plant has to generate more power to give the same end supply to someone further away).

And as I stated: those wires (cables) aren't public property: they're owned by firms that more often than not own power plants to begin with. As such, you typically don't get the choice of where you get your power from.


----------



## Noctosphere (Nov 16, 2018)

Taleweaver said:


> Going by this post I fear that I might not have expressed myself clearly enough. Sorry about that.
> 
> The thing with electricity is that it has to be used instantly. You cannot conveniently "store some for later" (generators and batteries simply don't have this kind of power...if I'm not mistaken, the action of using pumps to pump water back to the top of a hydroelectric plant is about as much of a "mega battery" as it gets).
> Wires obviously transport electricity, but that has its limits as well. Even the best wires tend to leak a small percentage over longer distances. The result: the farther away from a plant, the more you have to pay (or from another perspective: the plant has to generate more power to give the same end supply to someone further away).
> ...


okok i see
yea well, of course we can'T store it, but here in Quebec
we produce way more power than the needs of Quebecois
Even with all factories, stores, residences, etc.
We still produce way too much electricity

That's why we want to export...

Also, about public and private properties... well...
In Quebec, we have only one supplyer, Hydro-Quebec
Which is the property of Quebec Provincial Governement


----------

