The Canadian prime minister, alongside the premiers of Québec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, and the chief executive officers of Hydro-Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro have announced a package including up to CAD 10 billion in federal financial support and investments to expand clean electricity generation and transmission in Labrador through upgrades to Churchill Falls, development of the Gull Island hydroelectric project, and enabling infrastructure needed to support critical minerals development in the Labrador Trough.
Enabled by a landmark Definitive Cooperation and Implementation Agreement (DCIA) signed between Hydro-Québec, and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, the nearly CAD 70 billion package represents, what the parties describe as the largest clean energy investment in North American history. It includes building over 660 km of new transmission lines, including a 735 kV line stretching from Churchill Falls to Labrador City, to connect new generation and support growing mining loads.
The initiative also includes a proposed 2,000 MW of onshore wind, the CAD 2.34 million Labrador West Regional Transmission Expansion Study to bring high voltage power to localised mining sites, and localised connections such as the 50-km Lac Knife Graphite Mine line. The projects are being coordinated under the Labrador Trough Clean Power, Critical Minerals and Infrastructure Corridor, which has been referred to the federal Major Projects Office for streamlined review.
