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This week, we take a look at why Hydro-Québec - long synonymous with cheap, clean hydropower - is making its biggest bet on wind yet, and what a decades-long procurement signal could mean for clean energy supply chains.

Elsewhere in climate tech:

What happened: Hydro-Québec launched a call for up to 3 GW of new wind capacity, the first phase of a strategy to build 10 GW of new clean electricity.

The details: The tender targets 12 zones around the St. Lawrence, with projects coming online between 2031-2038.

The utility requires community consultation as a hard condition and will prioritize projects with First Nations partnerships. Projects that use local content and workforce will also get a boost.

The big picture: It's a big pivot for Hydro-Québec, which has relied heavily on hydropower to deliver clean, low-cost electricity.

But new hydro projects have long lead times and are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drought - a scenario that led the utility to suspend energy exports to Massachusetts earlier this year.

Meanwhile, nearly 50% of total energy consumed in Quebec still comes from fossil fuels imported from outside the province. Diversifying the electricity supply is a hedge against climate change-induced drought and volatile energy markets.

Why it matters: A sustained, multi-round procurement with local content requirements has the makings of a domestic wind supply chain. That includes blade and tower makers (Quebec is home to just one of each), but also circularity and recycling, siting intelligence, and more.

It also sends a signal to investors that this isn't a one-off procurement, but a long-term industrial strategy that can sustain long-term investments.

What's next: First-round bids are due early next year. That’s ten months to build community partnerships and local supply chains. Two more procurement rounds follow, making this the beginning of a decade-long build.

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Tydra Labs (Vancouver, BC) raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Spring Impact Capital to turn fungi and crustacean shells into chitin-based biomaterials.

CRWN.ai, Nova and Skyward Wildfire Technologies received $2.2 million in follow-on funding from NorthX Climate Tech to detect, prevent and manage wildfires.

Mangrove Systems (Toronto, ON) acquired operating assets and customers from Grain Ecosystem, a biochar project development platform, taking on a significant share of the biochar market.

DevvStream (Vancouver, BC) will be acquired by XCF Global along with Southern Energy Renewables to combine operations across sustainable aviation fuel, green methanol, and carbon management.

Evok Innovations (Vancouver, BC) is raising US$400 million for its third industrial climate tech fund.

Mangrove Lithium opened North America’s first commercial-scale electrochemical lithium refining plant in BC. The facility will produce 1,000 tonnes per year, enough for 25,000 EVs.

BMO and RBC purchased carbon removal credits from Mast Reforestation’s new biomass burial project in Montana.

CURA partnered with building materials giant TITAN Group to test CURA’s electrochemical limestone-splitting technology for producing low-carbon cement.

CHAR Technologies will acquire a biocarbon pilot and demonstration production plant in Quebec and secured a five year offtake agreement to turn CHAR’s biochar into 62,500 tonnes of biocarbon pellets.

BluWave-ai launched a patent licensing business unit to allow partners to build on BluWave’s IP portfolio and bring solutions to market faster across grid optimization, EV management and battery storage.

Asahi Kasei postponed its Ontario battery separator plant to 2029 or later after Honda deferred its EV production plans.

The batteries we need to save the grid aren't overseas in a factory. They’re already here.

The first generation of EVs is starting to retire, but those battery packs still hold ~80% of their original capacity. Not useful for an EV where range matters, but stack them together and it becomes years of grid storage waiting to be deployed.

We sat down with Sumreen Rattan, co-founder and COO of Moment Energy, to talk about their second-life battery thesis, securing domestic supply chains, and the practical bottlenecks to building the world’s first battery repurposing gigafactory.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

EV rebound: EV sales jumped over 47% year-over-year in February driven by the return of federal rebates, making up 10.2% of new sales. Interest continues to grow as gas prices go up.

Stalled progress: Canada’s emissions reductions slowed to basically zero in 2024 according to the latest official inventory. Emissions from oil & gas and agriculture once again offset progress in other sectors.

Falling behind: RBC and Scotiabank abandoned their 2030 financed emissions targets. RBC said its goals aren’t reasonably achievable due to changes in government policies and geopolitics.

Energy fast-track: Alberta plans to fast-track strategic energy projects with a 120-day approval window.

Meeting peak demand: Ontario launched a new demand response program to get commercial properties to reduce their energy use during peak periods, targeting 230 MW of peak demand reduction by 2027.

Data centre citizens: Microsoft plans to cover the full cost of new energy infrastructure for new data centres in Ontario as part of a “Community-First” framework for Canada.

📣 NRCan Survey: Natural Resources Canada is surveying Canadian cleantech companies about public procurement opportunities. Fill it out by April 28th.

💻 FireSwarm is hiring a CTO to lead the development of autonomous, heavy-lift drone systems for wildfire.

💻 Planetary is hiring a Director of Business Development to own origination and client management for ocean-based CDR.

💻 Corix is hiring a Project Manager, Project Delivery (PMO) to execute district energy projects.

🗓 PNW Climate Week Info Session

🗓 EVs: Connectivity & Data Are Key To Performance: Montreal’s climate meetup dives deep on EV data. April 23rd, Montreal.

🗓 Climate Coffee - Victoria: Meet fellow climate builders in Victoria. April 30, Victoria, BC.