Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Alberta wind turbines. Photo by Clive Schaupmeyer
Alberta’s wind power generation fell to 7 megawatts out of a nameplate capacity of 5684 megawatts at 11:15 p.m. MST the night of Wednesday, Nov. 26.
That’s 0.12 per cent of nameplate capacity, or 12 ten-thousandths of capacity.
Those numbers are according to the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), which posts minute-by-minute data of every generating unit on the Alberta grid.
At the moment, 97 per cent of Alberta’s power produced within the province was coming from natural gas-fired generation, be it cogeneration, combined cycle, simple cycle or gas-fired steam (former coal plants converted to natural gas.)
This was Alberta’s power generation at 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 26 MC is maximum capacity in megawatts, TNG is total net to grid, and DCR is dispatched and accepted contingency reserve. AESO
That’s significant, as the federal Clean Electricity Regulations mean to do away with fossil fuel-fired power generation unless it is equipped with carbon capture and storage of an efficiency far higher than what has been achieved at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Project near Estevan.
Without natural gas-fired power generation providing that 97 per cent of output, nearly every single light, electric heater, furnace fan, street light, factory, pumpjack, water pump and more would have gone out in Alberta at that moment. The temperature in Edmonton was -10 C, with Calgary at -14 C at the time.
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Remarkably, Alberta was able to keep its power rates from spiking, with a price of just $63.2 per megawatt-hour. Often when wind and solar combine to flatline at the same time, that price will float up to or even hit the theoretical $999.99 per megawatt-hour.It was even exporting a small amount of power to British Columbia, while importing the maxium 154 megawatts possible to Saskatchewan. The flow to both Montana and British Columbia stayed in the low numbers with small fluxuations.
Wind output stayed under 15 megawatts for at least an hour.
Expansion of Alberta’s natural gas fleet appears to have made all the difference, as similar circumstances in the previous few years would have likely resulted in grid alerts across the province.
As X account @ReliableAB, which provides regular logging of the Alberta grid, noted, “No wind, no supply issues, and no maxed out pool prices. Reliability makes a difference.”
No wind, no supply issues, and no maxed out pool prices.
Reliability makes a difference. pic.twitter.com/0pJHSuYceS
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) November 27, 2025
- 0104 SaskPower SASPO-2907 Hero Video_30sec0104 SaskPower SASPO-2907 Hero Video_30sec
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001