Churchill River desk · Newfoundland and Labrador
Keep the power here. Watch the gates.
We make a huge amount of clean electricity — about 43 TWh a year — and ship most of it out. What matters is what we keep for industry here: mining and resources first, so Labrador and the island can build on firm power that stays. August's paper and the September House vote (21–18) are a and a political yes. The contracts that lock the power are still ahead.
Firm in-province power should serve Labrador and island industry, mining and resources first. Open People is a constituent and catalyst voice from St. John's. We are not a party to the agreement, an offtake seat, or a demand seat.
Last verified public documents onlyUNKNOWN labelled
| Date | Gate | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-17 | Framework signed | fixed |
| 2026-09-17 | House endorsed 21–18 | fixed |
| 2026-10-05 | Québec votes | fixed |
| 2026-12-31 | Binding target | target |
| 2027-03-31 | Framework term ends | target |
| 2036-01-01 | First Gull Island power (preliminary) | preliminary |
Solid dots are fixed dates. Dashed rings are stated targets in the DCIA text. The hatched square is a preliminary Annex B year. Nothing on this rail is a forecast by Open People. Full tracker →
- — The cooperation paper was signed. It is not the contracts that lock the power.
- — A political yes with no referendum. It does not write power-purchase contracts.
- — The other government on the paper faces its voters. The party that signed is running third.
- — The date the parties say they want the real contracts signed. A goal, not a deadline.
- — The framework clock runs out unless the parties extend it in writing. Until then Hydro-Québec holds Gull Island exclusively.
- — New megawatts are a decade out. The contracts that decide who gets them are months out.
01 — What we hold
One of the cleanest large power systems in North America. Most of it leaves.
Under the 1969-lineage contract, Churchill Falls export power has been priced at two , two tenths of a cent, until 2041. That is lore about what left the border, not a rate anyone here can buy power at today. The question now is not the export price. It is whether the province writes down what it keeps.
02 — What is still blank
Endorsement is not a contract.
Next public political gate: Québec, 5 October. Binding target around year-end. The Premier says the deal comes back to the House before then, but has not promised MHAs a vote. This is the stretch where public voice can still insist on transparency and in-province use, without pretending the deal is finished, and without a sermon against it.
things the public paper still does not say
3 items on the tracker are marked unknown.
plus 7 open items with a date attached
- Not publishedWind company not named
- Not publishedNo public year-by-year meter
- Not publishedWhat “used here” means is still thin
- OpenBack to the House — but no promised vote
- OpenBinding contracts still unsigned
- OpenQuébec votes 5 October
- OpenInnu Nation issues still open
- OpenInnu in Québec say consent is mandatory
- OpenInflation path is not a market path
- OpenUnused retain already has a buyer
Public talk is enough firm power for a few large industrial campuses, about 2,350 MW. It is still not a year-by-year signed list of who gets it.
The paper describes a three-year notice to take power back. House testimony is not a signed contract.
asked MHAs not to vote and says the paper cuts its benefits by more than half. Partnership, royalty, and Gull Island tariff path are still open. As of 21 September no meeting is scheduled.
Ottawa has not yet confirmed this plant matches the older review. The 2026 description is larger than the roughly 2,000 MW studied then.
03 — The default path
If nobody writes anything else, the paper already decides.
The Material Terms describe what happens to retained power that is not used at home. It has a buyer. Leftover megawatts do not sit still by magic.
Framework, not executed. These are Material Terms for later contracts. The point is that the west branch is already written and the home branch is not. Tracker row →
If NL does not use retained power at home, the paper already names ways Hydro-Québec can buy it, including a 95% default price if there is no three-year notice. What means in words a voter can check is still not written.
04 — The desk
Four doors. None of them is a campus.
05 — How we work
Rules we publish so you can hold us to them.
If the next generation's firm power is going to be priced while this paper is still paper, we'd rather people were in it, not writing about it afterward.