Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Wind turbines in southern Alberta. Photo by Clive Schaupmeyer
The afternoon of June 12 saw wind power production drop to less than one per cent of its rated nameplate capacity. Windspeeds in southern Alberta, where the wind generation facilities reside, were faced with low single-digit windspeeds.
Twitter bot account @ReliableAB posts hourly updates on power generation in Alberta from the Alberta Electric System Operator. At 3:25 p.m., wind power production fell to 30 megawatts, or 0.8 per cent of the 3,618 megawatts of installed wind power nameplate capacity.
At this moment 83.9% of Alberta's electricity is being produced by fossil fuels. Wind is at 0.8% of capacity and producing 0.3% of total generation, while solar is at 81.7% of capacity and producing 9.32% of total generation. At the same time we are importing 187 MW or 2% pic.twitter.com/j3fRhv9gkk
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) June 12, 2023
This occurred during a warm but smoky day in Alberta. In Calgary it was 25 C at the time, with winds of 5 kilometres per hour. Lethbridge was 26 with a wind of 2 kilometres per hour. Medicine Hat was 29 with winds of 4 kilometres per hour.
This came less than a week after the Alberta Electric System Operator issued a “grid alert” at 3:49 p.m. on June 7 “due to hot temperatures and low wind, combined with an unplanned generator outage.” Coincidentally, the low wind conditions on June 12 coincided almost to the minute to the low wind conditions that triggered the grid alert five days before.
- 0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube
- 0121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 20260121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 2026
- 0134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 20260134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 2026
- 0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden
- 0132 UMWA 20260132 UMWA 2026
- 0129 Turnbull drivers operators0129 Turnbull drivers operators
- 0128 OSY Rentals updated0128 OSY Rentals updated
- 0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 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
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 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