Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Alberta wind turbines. Photo by Clive Schaupmeyer
When the sun is highest in the sky, solar power generation is supposed to be at its peak. That’s the idea, anyway. Reality is sometimes different, as at noon on Thursday, Nov. 23, solar power generation in Alberta was producing just 10 per cent of its nameplate capacity.
According to data from the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), at 11:57 a.m., solar power was producing 142 megawatts, out of an installed base of 1,470. That’s 9.7 per cent output, when the sun was highest in the sky.
The Travers Solar Facility, Canada’s largest with a nameplate capacity of 465 megawatts, was producing just 40. Nine solar facilities were showing zero power production of any kind, although a few of those may still be in the commissioning process. Ten solar farms were showing just 1 megawatt of power at noon, despite having ratings as high as 23 or 24 megawatts for some of them.
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And at the same moment, Alberta’s 4,420 megawatts of wind capacity, spread across 44 wind farms and comprised of hundreds of turbines costing billions of dollars was generating 30 megawatts. That’s 0.7 per cent of nameplate capacity.
Total power generation in Alberta at 11:57 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 23. MC is maximum capacity in megawatts, TNG is total net to grid, and DCR is dispatched (and accepted) contingency reserve. Alberta Electric System Operator
Indeed, Alberta’s wind power was having an even worse day than solar. In fact, it was like a bad hangover from the night before. At 10:39 p.m. the previous night, wind power generation fell to 14 megawatts out of an installed base of 4,420 megawatts, or 0.3 per cent, according to X bot account @ReliableAB, which provides hourly logging of AESO data.
Alberta hourly percentage of electricity generation for November 22, 2023 pic.twitter.com/dNF7mKW2Lo
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) November 23, 2023
That account showed that for 18 hours, Alberta’s wind generation remained under 2.2 per cent capacity, e.g. under 100 megawatts.
@ReliableAB
@ReliableAB
At 9:36 p.m. on Nov. 22, wind power fell to 43 megawatts. An hour later it was the aforementioned 14. Until mid-afternoon on Friday, Nov. 23, wind generation largely hovered between 34 and 70 megawatts, briefly hitting 85 megawatts at 8:39 a.m, but dropping to 24 megawatts at 12:39 p.m. At 3:38 p.m. it crept up to 65 megawatts (while solar had fallen to 56 megawatts). At 4:38 pm., just as peak demand hours around supper usually begins, wind finally climbed to 148 megawatts, but solar had now zeroed out. The evening saw wind power finally pick up, after 18 hours of power generation below 100 megawatts (below 2.2 per cent capacity).
The highest solar output was recorded at 12:38 p.m., when it crested at 156 megawatts, or 10.6 per cent output.
Corresponding with this with these low wind and solar conditions, the pool price for electricity spent most of the working day between $500 and $809 per megawatt-hour before dropping like a stone late in the evening.
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