Hydro-Québec’s 300 MW tender received 60 bids amounting to as much as 481 MW
20 MW is the largest project size; projects span 14 regions and are scheduled for commissioning by 2029
The utility is also providing new grants for residential and commercial rooftop solar, with an option for net metering
Hydro-Québec, the Canadian utility, has reported that its maiden solar energy tender for 300 MW of capacity was oversubscribed. It received 60 bids representing a combined capacity of up to 481 MW for the tender launched in May 2025 (see Canada’s Hydro-Québec Launches 300 MW Solar Energy Tender).
It had invited solar farms with a maximum installed capacity of 25 MW for this tender, which will avoid using agricultural zones and ensure the responsible sourcing of equipment. At least 40% of the proposed projects will involve a local municipality or an indigenous community.
Among the bids received, there are 5×20 MW projects offering this as the highest capacity. All the facilities are spread across 14 of Québec’s administrative regions, and will start commercial operations by 2029.
The utility will assess the bids based on their competitiveness and select a total of 300 MW capacity from the lot. Final results will be announced in Q1 2027. Winning projects will be responsible for securing the requisite authorizations and permits. The list of winning projects is available on Hydro-Québec’s website.
Residential and Commercial Solar Grant
Hydro-Québec says this solar tender is Phase I of its overarching target to achieve 3 GW of solar PV capacity by 2035 via competitive solicitation to meet growing electricity needs. As part of this plan, the utility launched a new grant program for residential and business customers who wish to install solar panels.
Under this grant program, it will provide for CAD 1,000 per kW installed, covering up to 40% of the eligible project costs, which it estimates to be between CAD 5,000 and CAD 6,000 for residential customers. The same goes up to CAD 45,000 for a business.
Residential customers can apply for the grant through the LogisVert Efficient Homes Program, and business customers through the Efficient Solutions calculation tool (OSE).
This scheme aims to help Hydro-Québec customers who wish to become self-generators, reduce the payback time on their solar systems to 10 to 12 years, down from 25 to 30 years as of now. Both residential and business customers can also sign up for net metering if they wish to feed excess electricity generated back into the grid in lieu of credits in the form of kWh to be used in the future.
All such installations will need to have official authorization for grid connection from Hydro-Québec.
The utility also aims to achieve 10 GW of wind energy capacity by 2035. Recently, it launched a wind tender targeting up to 3 GW capacity.