Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Cloud cover over Alberta at 5:40 p.m., according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Thick clouds can be seen in the solar belt of southern Alberta, from the Rockies to the Saskatchewan border.
Generally speaking, solar power performs pretty well in the summer in Alberta. When its sunny, solar power can easily hit over 80 per cent of nameplate capacity.
But on Aug. 9, at 5:43 p.m., heavy clouds across Alberta saw solar drop substantially. It was putting out just 197 megawatts an installed base of 1,291 megawatts. In comparison, at 5:57 p.m. on Aug 6, solar was producing 771 megawatts, or 59.7 per cent capacity.
Wind, however, was more than making up for it, as wind power generation at that moment on Aug. 9 was 2,273 megawatts, or 59 per cent of installed capacity of 3,853 megawatts.
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Batteries given a run for their money
Something curious has been taking place with Alberta’s grid-scale batteries, possibly system tests or something else. Typically they are used an average of three times each over the course of 30 days, and usually for 9 to 23 minutes at a time, according to Dispatcho.app.
But on Aug. 8, eReserve1 Rycroft produced power to the grid 14 times between 11:24 a.m. and 6:40 p.m. sometimes it produced 10 megawatts, other times 20, a few times 8 or 18 megawatts. The length of time varied from one minute to 15 minutes, with most intervals being four or five minutes. In total, it produced power for 84 minutes.
eReserve3 Rycroft was called upon to produce power more times on Aug. 9 than it had been for several months, cumulatively, before that day. Dispatcho.app
A similar thing happened on Aug. 9 at eReserve3 Rycroft. It contributed power for 23 intervals, ranging from one minute to 14 minutes at a time. The total was 114 minutes overall. This is, by far, the most usage Pipeline Online has seen from one of these batteries over many months of observation. Indeed, in one day, eReserve Rycroft provided more intervals of power than it had since Jan. 1. Indeed, from Jan. 1 to Aug. 8, that battery facility provided a total of 115 megawatt-hours to the grid, but 35 megawatt-hours on Aug. 9, alone.
Starting mid-afternoon on Aug. 9, Summerview also contributed power four times, ranging from 1 minute to 59 minutes. The total output by 6 p.m. was 68 minutes. The other two grid-scale batteries had not seen this behaviour as of the evening of Aug. 9
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