Letters to the Editor can be sent to brian.zinchuk@pipelineonline.ca
Alberta’s Bull Creek Wind Farm, touching the Saskatchewan border between Provost and Macklin. On Sept. 12, the day of the photo, most of the turbines were not turning. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Re: Brian Zinchuk: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 29 times, shame on me, published Oct. 1, 2022.
In that column you spoke about following the Alberta Electric System Operator website. I, too, have followed the data on the AESO website since about 2015.
About that time I found the article entitled Alberta – A Case Study in Wind Energy Management I have attached a copy of that report (Alberta – A Case Study in Wind Energy Management – from The Black Swan Blog) as it further highlights what you reported in your “Fool me” article – that wind power is very intermittent and unreliable. The pie chart below is from the case study
and shows plainly how variable wind power is.
This case study prompted me to follow the AESO data for each month of 2017. I compiled that data into an Excel table which I have attached (Wind Power stats for 2017 from AESO data). Perhaps of most concern is that there were 257 hrs (over 10 days in total) when the wind power output was zero – and the months of most ZERO hours are the coldest months when freezing temperatures are happening. So the 2017 data confirms the earlier 2012 data – meaning that no matter how many wind farms are built, there will always be over 200 hours of ZERO wind power. From an atmospheric viewpoint, whenever there are recurring periods of prolonged stable high pressure (such as frigid winter weather or summer heat waves) when there is also next to no wind – leading to no (or very low) wind power.
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0050 Pride Upkeep lawn0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
- 0048 Hutts Trucking Safety0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
- 0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 20230047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
- 0043 ALX ten sizes0043 ALX ten sizes
- 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0040 Southeast College safety tickets0040 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
It may also interest you that NONE of the power stations in Alberta are owned by the Alberta provincial government. So it is the money of private corporations such as Atco, TransAlta, etc that continue to build wind AND solar farms. The AESO is basically just a referee trying to see that the rules of the game are followed.
Both wind and solar change significantly through the day. The attached AESO data for Jan 9 2020 shows wind dropping from over 650 MW at 7 AM to zero by 10 PM.
Click here to see the above graphic as a pdf: AESO Wind Jan 9 2020.
Solar follows the cycle of the sun – and can drop quickly at any solar farm whenever clouds drift by. In the USA, large solar farms are required to have large battery energy storage systems (BESS) associated with them to protect the grid from instability and blackouts when a major cloud bank drifts over.
In Alberta we are drifting along into a major dilemma in power generation – and the provincial government either does not see it – or is indifferent.
Best regards,
Ivan Purdy, P. Eng (retired)
Red Deer, Alta
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0050 Pride Upkeep lawn0050 Pride Upkeep lawn
- 0048 Hutts Trucking Safety0048 Hutts Trucking Safety
- 0047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 20230047 Estevan Oilfield Technical Society 2023
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
- 0043 ALX ten sizes0043 ALX ten sizes
- 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0040 Southeast College safety tickets0040 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