Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
See all those orange pins on this Google map, created by @ReliableAB? The show the locations of 45 wind farms with at total of 1,519 megawatts of nameplate capacity (grid-scale solar is purple). But a week after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced new rules for renewable power development, wind power yet again collapsed to effectively nothing.
At 9:38 a.m., on Wednesday, March 6, wind power in Alberta hit 5 megawatts out of an installed capacity of 4,481 megawatts, according to X account @ReliableAB, which posts hourly logs of the Alberta electrical grid using data from the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO). At that time, the pool price spiked to $714.57 per megawatt-hour
Five megawatts is 0.1 per cent, or 1 one-thousandth of nameplate capacity. And wind output hovered in single-digit territory for four hours, from to 8:39 a.m. to 11:39 a.m.
This coincided with 820 megawatts of coal-fired power generation being offline at the same time, at the Genessee Generating Station. Those two units are expected to be shut down any day now to be converted to natural gas-fired operation, and their shutdown could be related to that. They have been going on and off for the past few days. As soon as one coal unit started spinning up, and the sun rose higher in the sky, the price spike dropped sharply.
At this moment 93% of Alberta's electricity is being produced by fossil fuels. Wind is at 0.1% of capacity and producing 0.0% of total generation, while solar is at 18.4% of capacity and producing 2.86% of total generation. At the same time we are importing 455 MW or 4% pic.twitter.com/aX171A7ijP
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) March 6, 2024
- 0072 Outlaw Buckers and Oil Kings 20240072 Outlaw Buckers and Oil Kings 2024
- 0069 Sask Oil Show 2024 banquet tickets0069 Sask Oil Show 2024 banquet tickets
- 0071 Pride Upkeep 2024 Packages0071 Pride Upkeep 2024 Packages
- 0070 Sask Oil Show 2024 pre-register0070 Sask Oil Show 2024 pre-register
- 0068 Sask Oil Show 2024 booth0068 Sask Oil Show 2024 booth
- 0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan
- 0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds
- 0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow
- 0064 Estevan OTS0064 Estevan OTS
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0062 TED_EPAC_Technology_300062 TED_EPAC_Technology_30
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0060 Arizona Lithium Lease building0060 Arizona Lithium Lease building
- 0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator
- 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
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text
- 0052 Predator Inspections0052 Predator Inspections
- 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
- 0015 Latus Viro0015 Latus Viro
- 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
These graphs, produced by @ReliableAB, showed how wind power (in orange) flatlined for about half a day.
Here is a closer look at yesterday's wind generation and pool price.
Average % of Capacity = 5.27%
Average % of Total Generation = 2.26%
Average Temperature = -22.0
Average Pool Price = $147.60 pic.twitter.com/zp98Gqb9sB— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) March 7, 2024
Note on the graph below, orange is wind power, purple is solar, black is coal, dark green is dual fuel, and the massive block of green is natural gas. The proposed federal Clean Electricity Regulations would do away with all the black, dark green and green by 2035, unless massive carbon capture is installed on each plant.
Alberta hourly percentage of electricity generation by source for March 06, 2024.
Near zero wind generation yesterday until later in the evening. pic.twitter.com/jcTwlgssOX
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) March 7, 2024
Alberta installed capacity and hourly average capacity by source for March 06, 2024.
Wind was well below the yearly average capacity of 33% yesterday at only 5.3%. pic.twitter.com/iSAzGXLRJl
— Reliable AB Energy (@ReliableAB) March 7, 2024
Here’s another view of @ReliableAB’s produced map showing the approximate centre point of each of wind and solar farm in Alberta:
- 0072 Outlaw Buckers and Oil Kings 20240072 Outlaw Buckers and Oil Kings 2024
- 0069 Sask Oil Show 2024 banquet tickets0069 Sask Oil Show 2024 banquet tickets
- 0071 Pride Upkeep 2024 Packages0071 Pride Upkeep 2024 Packages
- 0070 Sask Oil Show 2024 pre-register0070 Sask Oil Show 2024 pre-register
- 0068 Sask Oil Show 2024 booth0068 Sask Oil Show 2024 booth
- 0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan
- 0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds
- 0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow0065 Anova Resources field operator Oxbow
- 0064 Estevan OTS0064 Estevan OTS
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0062 TED_EPAC_Technology_300062 TED_EPAC_Technology_30
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0060 Arizona Lithium Lease building0060 Arizona Lithium Lease building
- 0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator0059 Southeast College Heavy Equipment Operator
- 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
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig large text
- 0052 Predator Inspections0052 Predator Inspections
- 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
- 0015 Latus Viro0015 Latus Viro
- 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
Brian Zinchuk: A plan to save coal, power generation, and the oil industry in southeast Saskatchewan
Brian Zinchuk on Evan Bray Show: Coal, CO2 and oil, Trans Mountain Pipeline, spring breakup and more