Answers

No.

Yes, as mentioned in section 3 of the Tender Form [PDF 267 kB], the bidder must provide an outline of the project, including the location of the site.

It is the number of addenda posted on the Hydro‑Québec website:

https://www.hydroquebec.com/blockchain/selection-process/documentation.html

Yes.

A customer whose contract is an existing contract, as defined in the Rates and Conditions of Service for cryptographic use applied to blockchains [PDF 121 kB], must participate to the request for proposals for any load increase beyond the load already installed or authorized.

No. The applicable rate depends on the power demand of the customer. The terms and conditions of the rates are specified in the Electricity Rates [PDF 1.44 MB], chapter 4, section 1 (Rate M) and chapter 5, section 2 (Rate LG). Hydro‑Québec mentions that Rate L only applies to an industrial activity, which does not include cryptographic use applied to blockchains.

As part of the request for proposals process, Hydro‑Québec does not make available precise locations where capacity is available for either type of supply, high-voltage or medium-voltage electricity supply.

As part of the request for proposals process, Hydro‑Québec does not make available precise locations where capacity is available for either type of supply, high-voltage or medium-voltage electricity supply.

As indicated in article 1.6 of the Request for Proposals Document [PDF 291 kB], all work will be carried out by Hydro‑Québec.

As mentioned in note 3 at section 4.1.3 of the Tender Form [PDF 267 kB], investments are limited to the acquisition of goods and equipment manufactured in Quebec. This undertaking corresponds to the capital investment that the customer commits to making by the beginning of its electrical installation’s operating period, at the conclusion of its scaling, if applicable.

Yes, the “Applicant” who submit the letter of credit [PDF 35.9 kB] may be different from the “Customer”. Here is below (between brackets) the wording when the Applicant is different from the Customer.

At the request of (name of Applicant if different from the customer) (the “Applicant”), on behalf of (customer’s name) (the “Customer”), whose head office is located at (customer’s address), we, (name and address of issuing financial institution) are establishing for your benefit our irrevocable and unconditional standby letter of credit (the “Letter of Credit”) for an amount not exceeding (amount in words) Canadian dollars $ (amount in figures) CAD (the “Guaranteed Amount”).

Independently of the “Applicant” who submit the letter of credit, it is important that the “Customer” is exactly the same company who will sign the agreement with Hydro‑Québec.

Finally, one must remind that the bid bond must be in the form of a letter of credit or a certified cheque as indicated at article 2.3.1 of the Request for Proposals Document [PDF 291 kB].

The bidders must submit the Tender Form [PDF 148 kB] containing all information and documents required in accordance with the Request for Proposals Document [PDF 291 kB]. The business plan is not a requirement to participate in this request for proposals.

This information is publicly available on the Régie de l’énergie Web site, at this address (in French only).

The signed and sealed report from an engineer needs to be submitted with the submission of the tender form.

This question is not related to this request for proposals, nor the responsibility of Hydro-Québec.

Hydro–Québec has published an Addendum 4  [PDF 2,9 MB] to the request for proposals documents, which contains more details regarding information required under section 4.2.1 of the Tender Form [PDF 148 kB]. More specifically, a letter of intent must contain the same information as a contract. That information is detailed under points a, b and c at the end of section 4.2.1.

No, cryptographic use applied to blockchains can in no way be taken into account in Electricity Discount Program for Rate L Customers calculations because this non-industrial use is not eligible. Moreover, if the power associated with cryptographic use applied to blockchains exceeds 50 kW, the contract will no longer be eligible for Rate L and the rate for cryptographic use applied to blockchains will apply to the entire load. To maintain Rate L for large-power industrial activities, the associated loads will have to be covered by a separate contract.

If the power associated with cryptographic use applied to blockchains exceeds 50 kW, the contract will no longer be eligible for Rate L and the customer’s entire consumption, regardless of its use, will be billed at the rate applicable to cryptographic use applied to blockchains.

The disincentive rate is defined in articles 8 and 9 of the Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains.

The disincentive rate is Rate M or Rate LG, as applicable, but the energy is billed at the price of 15¢/kWh. It applies to all unauthorized consumption for cryptographic use applied to blockchains.

Moreover, all interested parties able to meet the requirements of the request for proposals may submit a proposal.

The details of the rates applicable to cryptographic use applied to blockchains are described in Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains.

For a medium-power contract, the price of energy is the price set for Rate M, namely 5.03¢/kWh for the first 210,000 kilowatthours a month, and 3.73¢/kWh for the remainder of the power consumption, but only if the contract was an “existing contract” as of June 18, 2018 or if it was selected further to the request for proposals. Any unauthorized consumption for this use will be billed at the price of 15¢/kWh. The price of the billing demand remains $14.58/kW in all cases.

No

In addition to the applicable rate, the unit price paid by a customer depends primarily on its consumption profile, or the amount of energy consumed for a given power demand. In regard to the components of the Rate M price on April 1, 2019, Hydro-Québec refers you to its Web–site:

http://www.hydroquebec.com/business/customer-space/rates/rate-m-general-rate-medium-power-customers.html

Based on the parameters provided, a unit price of approximately 7 ¢/kWh appears correct, provided the load factor is higher than 85%. Hydro-Québec reminds you, however, that the final rates for cryptographic use applied to blockchains remain subject to the Régie de  approval.

Once the request for proposals is over, connection requests for this type of load will not be rejected. These requests and the associated contracts will be processed in keeping with the document Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains.

For customers whose proposals are not selected in the RFP process, the disincentive rate (Article 8) applies. In regard to existing contracts (articles 5 and 6) and customers selected further to the request for proposals (Article 7), the disincentive rate applies if any installed capacity is (Article 9).

The electrical installation is defined in Annex I – Definitions of the Request for Proposals Document as “any electrical equipment, which includes any generating equipment connected and operated in parallel to the power distribution system, and any customer substation to which Hydro-Québec supplies or is to supply electricity and which is located on the load side of the connection point. The electrical installation includes the customer’s service entrance.” The same connection point can therefore be used, provided that, on the load side, there is a distinct customer connection, distinct metering and a distinct contract covering cryptographic use applied to blockchains. The electrical installation must also meet current standards, particularly standard E.21-10 (Blue Book).

All connection requests addressed to Hydro-Québec for cryptographic use applied to blockchains must be submitted in response to the request for proposals. Only applications submitted in this manner will be reviewed and receive response.

Following the request for proposals, connection requests and the associated contracts will be processed in keeping with the conditions set out in Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains.

For participants whose bid has not been accepted following the request for proposals process and who wish to maintain their request, and for customers who may not have submitted a bid, the disincentive rate (Article 8) applies, along with all conditions of service governing this type use.

Hydro‑Québec invites you to view the Web site dedicated to the request for proposals, where you can find all the relevant information documents.

All connection requests addressed to Hydro-Québec for cryptographic use applied to blockchains must be submitted in response to the request for proposals. Only applications submitted in this manner will be reviewed and receive a response.

Following the request for proposals, connection requests and the associated contracts will be processed in keeping with the conditions set out in Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains.

For participants whose bid has not been accepted following the request for proposals process and who wish to maintain their request, and for customers who may not have submitted a bid, the disincentive rate (Article 8) applies, along with all conditions of service governing this type of use.

This information is publicly available on the Régie de l’énergie Web site, here (in French only).

This question is not related to this request for proposals and is not the responsibility of Hydro‑Québec.

Yes, as mentioned in Section 3 of the Tender Form , the bidder must provide an outline of the project, including the location of the site.

This refers to the number of addenda posted on Hydro-Québec’s Web site:

https://www.hydroquebec.com/blockchain/selection-process/documentation.html

Yes

No. Article 1.4.1 of the Request for Proposals Document stipulates that the bidder must undertake to consume electricity for every contract year and for a period of five consecutive years following the date on which service is established.

In the event of a difference between the quantities of electricity requested in Section 2.1.1 of the Tender Form (Annex 4) and those actually consumed, Hydro-Québec will apply the terms for failure to fulfill the consumption undertaking outlined in Article 1.5.1. of the Request for Proposals Document.

The financial guarantees to be provided by a selected bidder upon signing the contract are set out in Article 4.18 of the Request for Proposals Document.

You can also refer to the Standard Draft-Design Agreement (Annex 6) and the Standard Connection Agreement (Annex 7).

The reasons behind the postponement were presented to the Régie de l’énergie and can be found at the following address:

publicsde.regie-energie.qc.ca/projets/457/DocPrj/R-4045-2018-B-0144-Audi-Dec-2019_08_14.pdf

The contract LF represents the load factor anticipated by the customer for its use of its contract power over a contract year. It must not take account of any energy not delivered during interruption periods. In other words, it must be calculated as if there were no interruption period. Moreover, as indicated in section 1.5.1 of the Request for Proposals Document, Hydro Québec will add energy not delivered during a curtailment period to the real energy consumed to calculate the amount to be paid for failure to fulfill the consumption undertaking, as applicable, since the consumption undertaking is based on a contract LF that excludes any interruption period

The terms in italics are defined in Annex I – Definitions of the Request for Proposals Document

As indicated in section 4.2.2 of the Tender Form and if applicable to its project, the bidder must enclose with its bid a design report on the recovered energy exploitation process. In particular, the bidder must fill out and submit with its design report Table 4.2 – Estimated Energy Balance Profile for a Contract Year. The values entered in Table 4.2 are used to determine the bidder’s environmental undertaking, as described in Article 1.4.3 of the Request for Proposals Document. The bidder’s environmental undertaking will be considered in step 2 of the bid evaluation process, pursuant to Article 3.3.2 of the Request for Proposals Document.

The environmental undertaking of a bidder selected at the completion of the selection process will be reproduced in its connection agreement. In this regard, see Article 11 of the Standard Connection Agreement.

Submitting the design report for the recovered energy exploitation process with the bid is a prerequisite for obtaining points in relation to the bidder’s environmental undertaking. After the bid submission deadline, the bidder may file a revised design report in order to add a degree of precision. However, the revised report cannot be used to amend the value of its environmental undertaking.

As indicated in Section 4.2 of the Tender Form, if the energy savings ratio is less than 7.5%, the bidder does not have to provide information for section.

A customer with an existing contract, as defined in the Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains, must participate in the request for proposals for any load increase beyond the load already installed or authorized.

This contract is not considered an existing contract, as defined in Section 5 of Annex 8 of Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains. If you wish to use the power supplied by Hydro-Québec to supply over 50 kW for this type of use, you will have to take part in the request for proposals to obtain a block of power dedicated to cryptographic use applied to blockchains.

Moreover, if your bid is selected upon completion of the RFP process, your contract will no longer be eligible for Rate G and will become subject to the rate applicable to cryptographic use applied to blockchains. Depending on the quantity indicated, current rates M or LG, as applicable, will apply.

If your project is not selected further to the RFP process or if you decide not to participate and you nevertheless increase the power associated with your contract for cryptographic use applied to blockchains in excess of 50 kW, all this power will be billed at 15¢/kWh pursuant to Article 8 of Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains, or at any other rate applicable at that time in accordance with the provisions approved by the Régie.

The power is the maximum power that Hydro-Québec will have to provide annually to supply your loads. The load factor (LF) must be estimated on the basis of the annual energy that Hydro Québec will have to provide. If a significant portion of the load is supplied by your own facilities, the LF may be fairly low.

Hydro-Québec notes that the power and LF indicated are used to determine the consumption undertaking, as set out in Section 2.1 of the Tender Form. In the event of failure to fulfill the consumption undertaking, the provisions of Section 7.3 of the Connection Agreement apply.

The bidder may not revise the terms of the agreement during the five-year term. However, as indicated in Section 7.4 of the Connection Agreement, Hydro-Québec may revise the contract power in accordance with Section 15.2.2 of the Condition of Service..

In its decision D-2019-052, the Régie asks for a minimum of 50 MW to be reserved for projects of 5 MW or less. If a project’s contract power is equal to or less than this 5-MW ceiling, it qualifies for this reserved block.

No. The applicable rate depends on the customer’s power demand. The terms and conditions applicable to rates are specified in Electricity Rates, chapter 4, section 1 (for Rate M) and chapter 5, section 2 (for Rate LG). Note that Rate L applies only to industrial activity, which does not include cryptographic use applied to blockchains.

As part of the request for proposals process, Hydro-Québec does not provide any information regarding available capacity for specific locations, either for high-voltage or medium-voltage supply.

As part of the request for proposals process, Hydro-Québec does not provide any information regarding available capacity for specific locations, either for high-voltage or medium-voltage supply.

As indicated in Article 1.6 of the Request for Proposals Document, all connection work will be carried out by Hydro‑Québec.

As mentioned in note 3 in section 4.1.3 of the Tender Form, investments are limited to the acquisition of goods and equipment manufactured in Quebec. This undertaking corresponds to the capital investments that the customer commits to making by the beginning of its electrical installation’s operating period, at the conclusion of its scaling, if applicable.

Yes, the “applicant” who submits the letter of credit may be different from the “customer.” The wording of the first sentence of the standard letter of credit should be as follows (modifications in red) when the applicant is different from the customer.

At the request of (Applicant’s name) (the “Applicant”), on behalf of (the “Customer”), whose head office is located at (Customer’s address), we, (name and address of issuing financial institution), are establishing for your benefit our irrevocable and unconditional standby letter of credit (the “Letter of credit”) for an amount not exceeding (amount in words) Canadian dollars ($ (amount in figures) CAD) (the “Guaranteed Amount”).

Regardless of the “applicant” for the letter of credit, it is important that the “customer” is exactly the same company as will sign the agreement with Hydro-Québec.

Finally, the bid bond must take the form of a letter of credit or a certified cheque, as indicated in Article 2.3.1 of the Request for Proposals Document.

The bidders must submit the Tender Form containing all the information and documents required in accordance with the Request for Proposals Document. The business plan is not a requirement to participate in this request for proposals.

As indicated in Article 2.3 of the Request for Proposals Document, the bidder must enclose with its bid at the time of submission a bid bond in the amount of $10/kW based on the contract power, defined in Annex 1 as “the quantity of power to be installed, as requested by the bidder and presented in its bid, expressed in kilowatts (kW).”

For a project with a contract power of 192 kW, the bidder must include with its bid a bid bond of $1,920.

As indicated in the Summary of Selection Process, a parametric estimate of the costs associated with each project selected in step 3 will be provided to bidders. It is at this step that Hydro-Québec will be able to indicate whether there are costs associated with a specific project. Out of fairness to all bidders, no information regarding the load capacity of a specific site can be provided by Hydro-Québec for the purpose of preparing bids.

The bidder must enclose with its bid, at the time of submission, a bid bond of $10/kW based on the contract power, as required in Article 2.3 of the Request for Proposals Document.

In regard to the remaining balance of the sum deposited in relation to its connection request, the customer must contact Hydro‑Québec TransÉnergie.

A letter confirming the load associated to each of the existing contracts, as defined in the Rates and Conditions of Service for Cryptographic Use Applied to Blockchains, has been sent in mid-October 2019 to customers holding these contracts.

Holders of an existing contract wishing to participate to the request for proposals must enter, at section 2.1.1 of the Tender Form, the existing contract power. The proposal covers the contract power beyond this existing contract power.

(The terms indicated in italics are defined in Appendix 1 – Definitions.)