Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Final assembly of a wind turbine near Assiniboia, Sask., on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Wind power generation in Saskatchewan showed incredible variability in the first half of March. Some days the wind blew, and others, it sucked.
According to SaskPower’s Where Your Power Comes From web page, which displays daily 24-hour averages for each class of power generation, on March 15, the 617 megawatts of nameplate wind power generation capacity produced an average of 542 megawatts, or 87.8 per cent capacity. This is among the highest numbers ever observed by Pipeline Online since September, 2022, when SaskPower started posting this data.
Power generation in Saskatchewan averaged over 24 hours on March 15. SaskPower
- 0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 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
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
However, the previous week, numbers weren’t so great. On March 6, wind averaged 51 megawatts. That’s 8.2 per cent of nameplate. And the following day, March 7, saw wind average 59 megawatts, or 9.5 per cent of capacity.
Power generation in Saskatchewan averaged over 24 hours on March 6. SaskPower
And since that’s an average, there were times when output was lower than that. However, this time around, wind output didn’t hit zero, but it did fall below 10 megawatts (1.6 per cent capacity).
SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said by email on March 11, “We actually very little time less than 10 megawatts during those two days – only 1.3 hours on March 6. We didn’t register any 0 megawatts hours.”
On March 6, natural gas made up 47 per cent of generation, coal 40 per cent, wind one per cent, solar negligible, and “other” four per cent. On March 7, natural gas made up 45 per cent of generation, coal 41 per cent, wind two per cent, solar negligible, and “other” four per cent.
That’s significant, because fossil fuels combined to generate 87 per cent and 86 per cent of total average generation. But by 2035, the federal government’s proposed Clean Electricity Regulations would mean shutting down all that natural gas and coal-fired generation, unless carbon capture is installed. And by 2050, the federal government expects the electrical grid to increase by a factor of 2.5. That’s in 25 years, nine months and 13 days.
Earlier in the month, Boundary Dam Unit 4, which supposedly retired Dec. 31, 2021, but keeps getting called back into service because its still needed, was once again fired up. Cherry said, “BD4 ran up to March 1, but it has been off since then.”
However, on March 7, SaskPower’s coal output was shown to average 1,408 megawatts. That’s 19 megawatts higher than the current rated capacity of Poplar River, Boundary Dam and Shand Power Stations, as listed by SaskPower’s website.
- 0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 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
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001