The TechnoCentre eolien (TCE) and the Centre de recherche sur les milieux insulaires et maritimes (CERMIM) are signing a collaboration agreement in order to support the energy transition underway in the Magdalen Islands and to possibly integrate renewable energies into microgrids.
In an international context in which the energy transition of off-grid systems is beginning to take shape, considerable expertise will be needed to meet the associated challenges on these grids that are generally remote, if not completely isolated from large urban centers.
“The CERMIM and TCE teams pursue common objectives in conformity with their respective missions. Such a collaboration agreement will allow our organizations to combine their know-how with the objective of developing energy projects and, thereby, meeting one of the most important challenges of our time,” states Marc-Olivier Massé, associate director for CERMIM.
The TCE boasts technical and technological expertise in renewable energies, particularly wind, solar and energy storage. The TCE also possesses research infrastructure and brings together a team of multidisciplinary scientists who will be able to work on energy projects for the Magdalen Islands under this partnership. In the next five years, in the context of a vast research program, the TCE will complete a number of projects aiming to integrate renewable energies into microgrids.
As for CERMIM, it has developed over the past several years an expertise in the energy consumption and socioeconomic factors specific to communities relying on a microgrid – particularly the energy consumption of the stand-alone grid of the Magdalen Islands. CERMIM has also accompanied the Communauté maritime des Îles-de-la-Madeleine in its efforts to adopt an off-grid energy strategy for the region.
The companies note that this is a university-college collaboration, as CERMIM is a research center affiliated with the Université du Québec à Rimouski, while the TCE is a designated college center for technology transfer affiliated with the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles.
