About TQM

The Trans Québec & Maritimes Pipeline (TQM) was founded in 1980 and is owned equally by subsidiaries of two major Canadian companies in the energy industry, Énergir and TC Energy. TQM’s system is operated by TC Energy and supplies natural gas through Énergir to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Québec, as well as supplies downstream customers in the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada.

Safe and reliable natural gas delivery

The 649-kilometre (km) system includes 37 delivery points and four compressor stations and is interconnected to two storage sites and two renewable natural gas receipts. The system transports natural gas from an interconnect with TC Energy’s Canadian Mainline at Les Cèdres, Québec to a point near Québec City, in the municipality of Lévis on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Additionally, the system extends from Terrebonne, north of Montreal, to East Hereford, Québec on the border with New Hampshire, where it interconnects with the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System. In 2022, TQM integrated an existing pipeline into its system, from an interconnection with TC Energy’s Mainline in Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois, Québec to Shefford, Québec where it interconnects with the existing TQM pipeline.

Safe and Reliable Natural Gas Delivery

TQM system reliability

We know how crucial a reliable energy supply is to our customers, especially in the cold winter months when demand is higher.

One way we can do this is through deliberate design. TQM’s system has a “loss of critical unit” design, which means that all four compressor stations have a secondary unit to prevent service interruptions. Historically, TQM operated exclusively on electric-driven compression.

In 2019, TQM installed its first secondary gas turbine unit at the East Hereford compressor station. Since then, three of the four TQM compressor stations have secondary gas-fired units. The combined use of electric and gas-driven compressor station allows for elevated levels of service reliability during planned or unplanned downtime of the electric units. The backup gas-fired units provide the ability to run the compressor station in the event of an electrical utility outage. Without the backup units, critical natural gas supply to various customers – including hospitals, schools, institutions and homes – could be interrupted.

Critically, using electricity, a less emission-intensive energy source, instead of natural gas as our primary source of power for compressor stations with natural gas units as back-up, reduces emissions. This approach allows TQM to maintain high delivery volumes to meet our customers’ contractual requirements, while prioritizing usage of lower-emission electricity generation.

The system is also interconnected with Énergir’s distribution system and provides approximately 50 per cent of the natural gas supply to Énergir.

TQM is regulated by the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) with regard to its transportation tolls and its facilities.

TQM Pipeline Map

Renewable Natural Gas

Produced from organic materials, renewable natural gas (RNG), or biomethane, is considered a lower-carbon fuel that is well-suited for transportation in existing natural gas infrastructure. TQM facilitates the transportation of RNG by providing customers with access to transportation infrastructure.

Did you know?

TQM was the first transmission pipeline in Canada to inject RNG directly into its system in 2003 which provides a low-carbon renewable energy source to our customers.

TQM is connected to two biomethane facilities:

EBI Énergie, interconnected at Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier, has been transforming biogas into RNG since 2003, collecting gas generated by organic waste at a landfill into an underground piping network and transporting it to a processing plant for injection into the TQM system.
Complexe Enviro Connexions, interconnected at Lachenaie, collects and purifies raw landfill gas through a specialized treatment facility. Once the purification process is complete, RNG is then injected into the TQM system.

Are you interested in connecting to TQM or producing RNG? Visit our online mapping tool to see how close TQM is to your project or email tqm_comms@tcenergy.com.

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kilometers

delivery points

compressor stations

Our mission

Since 1980, TQM has developed and operated our pipeline system efficiently, reliably and safely to serve our customers across Québec and the Northeastern United States. And as we move forward, we are committed to finding innovative new ways to build and operate our system, all while ensuring reliability and security of energy supply to our customers.

Projects at TQM

As we continue to safely and reliably deliver energy to our customers, we’re also planning and building our network to consider lower-carbon energy sources.

Learn more about our projects

Sustainability

Environmental protection, indigenous relations, and community partnerships are all priorities for TQM. Find out how we strive to be leaders in social responsibility.

Learn more about our sustainability practices

Directors and Officers

Board of Directors	TQM Officers
Mélanie Côté, Énergir	Vincent Regnault, Chief Executive Officer
Vincent Regnault, Énergir	Geoff Masson, Chief Financial Officer
Michel Veillette, Énergir	Sophie Lussier, General Manager
Jay White, TC Energy	Trevor Ebl, Vice President
Heather Krislock, TC Energy	Glyn Menard, Vice-President, Canadian Taxation
Trevor Ebl, TC Energy	Meghan Lindsay, Secretary
Sophie Lussier, TC Energy	Danika Yeager, Vice-President
	Burton Cole, Vice President and Operational Controller