Natural Resources committee  It depends on the price of electricity. Usually, the request for proposals specifies that the government is prepared to put in so much. Offshore electricity is a bit more expensive than land-based wind power. We saw prices drop and rebound recently because of significant demand.

Natural Resources committee  It depends on the distance. Mr. Nicholson may have examined that more closely in his article on the deployment of wind power. Regardless, there's no doubt that the challenge is figuring out how to replace fossil fuels. The fact remains that, if you take into account Hydro‑Québec's infrastructure, the company has more than a thousand kilometres in lines connecting the major production centres to the major centres where the energy is consumed.

Natural Resources committee  I think adding offshore and hydrogen production are significant risks. Hydrogen projects need support, partly because we don't know where the sector is headed. We have set extremely ambitious climate targets for ourselves, so we are going to have to try things out and scale industries that could fail but that could also succeed.

Natural Resources committee  Yes. Calculations have been done, but the issue is how we incorporate hydrogen at the service level. Production-wise, we have a good idea of the costs, especially at the Trottier Energy Institute, where the Transition Accelerator is at work. A number of organizations are studying the subject.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your question. The answer is no, not right now. First of all, we don't even have a vessel that could carry the hydrogen across the Atlantic. That's a problem. Certain technologies are not yet available. That is why I agree with Mr. Nicholson, who gave his presentation after I did.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation. I'm honoured. I regret that I was unable to appear before you in person. I want to go back to the bill, which is certainly relevant but still contains a number of inconsistencies. The bill aims to add the management of offshore renewable energy licences to the already existing management of offshore oil licences.