For 3 days in a row, Alberta’s wind power production has cratered to just about zero

Brian Zinchuk

Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online

Alberta’s Bull Creek wind farm, southeast of Provost and along the Saskatchewan border. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

For the third day in a row, and four days out of the last six, Alberta’s wind power production utterly collapsed. Over the last three days, wind power generation dropped to less than half of one per cent of nameplate capacity, and on one day it fell to one per cent.

At 12:35 p.m. on Oct. 3, Alberta’s wind power generation dropped to just 6 megawatts out of an installed capacity of 2,734. That’s 0.2 per cent, or two one-thousandths of nameplate capacity.

Total power generation in Alberta at 1:35 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3. TNG is total net to grid, in megawatts. 26 of the 29 wind farms attached to the grid were showing zero power production. Alberta Electric System Operator

Only one singular wind farm was making any power, out of 29 attached to the grid. Those 29 wind farms have hundreds of combined wind turbines between them across southern Alberta.

Just one of 29 wind farms was contributing any power at all to the Alberta grid at 12:35 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3. Alberta Electric System Operator

• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
  0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
• 0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
  0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
• 0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
  0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
  0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
• 0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
  0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
• 0043 ALX ten sizes
  0043 ALX ten sizes
• 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
  0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0040 Southeast College safety tickets
  0040 Southeast College safety tickets
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0029 Latus Viro updated Latus phone
• 0025 Kendalls
• 0023 LC Trucking tractor picker hiring mix
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
• 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
• 0019 Jerry Mainil Ltd hiring dugout
• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0011
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0004 Royal Helium PO Ad 02
• 9001
• 0002

This followed a drop to 13 megawatts at 3:57 on Oct. 2.

Alberta power generation at 3:57 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2. Alberta Electric System Operator

And on Oct. 1, it hit 8 megawatts at 11:45 a.m. and stayed around that number for the next 1.5 hours.

Alberta wind generation at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 1. MC is maximum capacity, in megawatts. TNG is total net to grid, in megawatts. 26 of the 29 wind farms attached to the grid were showing zero power production. Alberta Electric System Operator

Surprisingly, the province has not been importing large volumes of electricity during these periods of next to zero wind power. That’s likely because the massive Travers solar project has come online, with a maximum capacity of 465 megawatts. On Oct. 3 it was putting out 352 megawatts.

Solar power production in Alberta at 12:35 p.m. on Oct. 3, Highlighted is the contribution of the new Travers solar facility. Alberta Electric System Operator

On Wednesday, Sept. 28, Alberta’s total wind generation fell to 26 megawatts at 1:55 p.m, or one per cent of capacity.

• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
  0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
• 0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
  0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
• 0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
  0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
  0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
• 0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
  0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
• 0043 ALX ten sizes
  0043 ALX ten sizes
• 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
  0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0040 Southeast College safety tickets
  0040 Southeast College safety tickets
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0029 Latus Viro updated Latus phone
• 0025 Kendalls
• 0023 LC Trucking tractor picker hiring mix
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
• 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
• 0019 Jerry Mainil Ltd hiring dugout
• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0011
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0004 Royal Helium PO Ad 02
• 9001
• 0002