Hydro-Québec accepts bids for 60.7 MW of cogen

Dec. 21, 2009, Montreal – Hydro-Québec has accepted eight bids for a total of 60.7
MW in response to its April 14 call to purchase power generated by biomass
cogeneration in Quebec. Electricity deliveries are scheduled for December 1,
2012. The average price of the winning bids is 11.2 cents/kWh, including
0.4 cents/kWh for transmission costs. The projects call for capital
expenditures of about $180 million, plus another $39 million for transmission infrastructure.

According to the original call for tenders, the biomass used within the new cogeneration
installations has to correspond to a minimum of 75% of the combustible used for
the electricity production of these installations. The terms of the contracts may
range from 15 to 25 years.

Over the coming months, Hydro-Québec Distribution will work with the project
proponents to finalize the contracts, which will then be submitted to the Régie
de l'énergie for approval. The proponents will be responsible for obtaining all
the necessary permits prior to the start of construction. The following
companies submitted winning bids.