image credit: canary media, a Flourish chart
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- Mar 31, 2025 4:45 pm GMT
Canary Media: “In New England, Canadian hydropower has slowed to an ominous trickle.” Electricity is another commodity that crosses international borders. “On March 6, at the start of the still-simmering trade war between the U.S. and Canada, hydropower generator Hydro‑Québec quietly stopped exporting electricity to New England.” In this season, Canada typically supplies up to a tenth of that power, but now the region has instead gone almost a month with virtually no cross-border flow of electrons. “Hydro‑Québec leaders say low prices in the New England market—not politics—are behind the decision to suspend sales.” To date the disruption hasn’t affected power costs or reliability in the region, but some experts say that could eventuate if the cuts extend into the summer cooling season. In March of 2024, by comparison, anywhere from a few hundred megawatts to more than 1,200 MW flowed along the line at any given time, making up between 5% and 10% of the region’s electricity use on average. “This pullback is likely due, at least in part, to ongoing abnormally dry and drought conditions in much of Quebec, which mean less water flow to power the company’s generators.” As in all these ecological + political calculations, the possibility or probability or climate change as a factor in the equation is real + growing.
Sandy Lawrence
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