Alberta issues second grid alert in three days as wind power generation collapses, again

Brian Zinchuk

Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online

Twitter/Alberta Electric System Operator

Another supper in Alberta is not being powered by wind generation.

Well, 99.54 per cent not powered by wind.

And by 4:53 p.m., the provincial grid operator declared the second “grid alert” this week.

As of 4:07 p.m., as the work day was drawing to a close and the sun in retreating behind the Rocky Mountains, Alberta’s wind capacity across now 35 wind farms was putting out just 35 megawatts out of 3,618 megawatts nameplate capacity.

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The Alberta Electric System Operator now lists 36 wind farms attached to the grid, an addition of one more from earlier in the week. The total nameplate capacity was 3,466 megawatts on Tuesday.

Power generation in Alberta as of 4:07 p.m. on Dec. 1. MC is maximum capacity, in megawatts, TNG is total net to grid, and DER is dispatched and accepted contingency reserve. Alberta Electric System Operator

You have to take the total number with a bit of a grain of salt, as it usually takes several weeks from a facility being listed on the AESO website to it actually producing power to the grid. So the last half dozen or so facilities, with more than 500 megawatts, aren’t fully online yet. But even so, out of the 36 facilities listed, 27 were listing “zero” in power to the grid.

Alberta Electric System Operator

A few minutes later, solar power dropped off to nothing, as it does each and every evening. But this occurred at about 4:20 p.m., as days get shorter leading to the winter solstice.

An hour later, one of Alberta’s three batteries was called into service, with Summerview providing its full 10 megawatts to the grid.

And as much-touted “cheap” wind and solar fell off the grid, pool electricity prices were forecast to max-out at the highest available level, $1,000 per megawatt hour. This same thing occurred on Nov. 29, at supper time. By 4:05 it had already hit $861 per megawatt hour. As coal has largely been eliminated from the system, with only two coal-fired units and one dual-fuel left, natural gas was making up 82 per cent of power production.

Also at supper time on Nov. 29, the AESO issued a “grid alert,” calling for lower consumption.

All of this is occurring before widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

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• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
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• 0052 Predator Inspections
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• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
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• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
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• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
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• 0043 ALX ten sizes
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• 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
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