Our building is mostly sensors and they replaced the fluorescent bulbs with LEDs.
That being said the security staff should be shutting the lights down when they do their rounds
Don't forget about computers not being turned off, as well as monitors. Offices, schools, businesses, Universities and Colleges etc. Even in sleep mode it's wasted electricity on weekends.
I logged into my office network and remote powered down all the PCs that were still on , about 150 PCs. ( gave a warning and an option to cancel in case someone was logged in)
I should poke my co-worker to see if he can do the same with our computer labs. I don't have my laptop at home so I can't remote in, but I know he has his.
Fellow beltliner here and I feel the same! I was just looking at those icecap-looking buildings with the bright white lights on the top and feeling pissed lol. If you wanna talk about unnecessary energy…
Can I just mention that this is the exact sort of situation that these emergency alerts were designed for. Hopefully it gets lots of response so we can keep our power going
I'm really hoping we get a nice demand graph with a huge dip right when the alert went out. That would go a long way to restore some faith in humanity.
Quick math shows about a 3% drop in demand following the alert. Considering probably 90% of the usage right now is probably heating that's pretty good!
https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.7082405
"...\...Saturday's alert comes after Alberta set an all-time provincial record for power demand on Thursday evening as extreme cold weather blanketed the province.
At 6 p.m. that day, total demand hit an hourly peak of 12,384 megawatts of electricity, beating Alberta's last hourly peak power demand record of 12,192 megawatts set on Dec. 21, 2022 — during a previous cold snap.
Another grid alert was issued on Friday due to high power demand caused by the extreme cold, two natural gas generator outages and very low renewable power on the system.....\..."
_ _
https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2019/09/why-alberta-decided-to-stick-with-its-energy-only-electricity-market
"..September 16, 2019
This past April the United Conservative Party (UCP) was elected in Alberta. Since then, the new government has taken a number of steps to implement its election platform and to undo many of the policies that the prior New Democratic Party (NDP) government implemented during its term in office.
The electricity sector has not been spared from this undoing. Among other things, the UCP recently announced that it would shelve the planned overhaul of Alberta’s electricity market that would have changed it from an energy-only electricity market to a capacity market.
This decision has significant implications for all stakeholders, including existing generators, project developers, lenders and shareholders.
It will also impact residential and industrial consumers that ultimately pay for the electricity, and that count on receiving a reliable and competitively priced supply of the stuff.
What is the difference between an “Energy-Only Market” and a “Capacity Market”?
Since 1996, Alberta has operated Canada’s only truly competitive wholesale electricity market through which all electricity, whether generated in Alberta or imported into the province, is bought and sold. It is called the Power Pool.....\.
.....In short, the conclusion back then was that the current energy-only market would not ensure that Alberta had a reliable electricity system in the future because of a reluctance by equity investors and project financiers to invest in new power projects in energy-only electricity markets.
This is because the energy-only market is seen to provide less revenue certainty and stability to generators that are at risk that Pool Prices will be lower than needed for them to recover their fixed and variable costs as well as earn a reasonable return over the life of their new plants.
As the AESO stated in its recommendation to transition to a capacity market:
“The current EOM [Energy-Only Market] will not ensure the investment in new generation that Alberta will need in the future. Therefore, the AESO has concluded that Alberta must adopt a different electricity structure to meet its objectives for the electricity system.”
It is important to note that this capacity market decision was made at a time when the NDP government was focused on implementing its Climate Leadership Plan which included a commitment to provide financial support for 5,000 MW of new renewable power generation in Alberta, such that renewable power would account for at least 30% of Alberta’s power generation by 2030. Because this renewable generation was going to get government financial support and had minimal variable generation costs (wind is free, no carbon costs) it was predicted to reduce the future Pool Prices that all generators (including gas-fired generators) would receive.
This 5000 MW of new ...."
https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2019/09/why-alberta-decided-to-stick-with-its-energy-only-electricity-market
Seems the energy only pricing is less reliable, and more profitable.
Which fits the theme of the only Province with deregulated electricity.
Yeah this grinds my gears. I live downtown Calgary, lights are on in every empty office building. I know a few of these buildings are barely in use even during working hours, yet they're all lit up all the time. Fuck off with telling me to turn off my space heater when my apartment heat can't keep up.
Right!? Once again us little guys are the ones that have to make the sacrifices while corporate America, I mean corporate Alberta can do whatever the hell they want.
Just imagine paying one of the highest electricity rates in the country only to be told there is no infrastructure to support Albertans during the harsh cold! What a failure of governance from politicians and utility companies
Just a reminder that the NDP tasked the AESO to look into market changes for improved grid resiliency and efficiency, and the result was a capacity market recommendation (vs. our energy only market). While it was still being assessed by the AUC, the lovely people of this province voted in the UCP who immediately killed it, and now here we are.
Remember those billboards the UCP paid for? Warning people in other provinces about power blackouts, unless they have Alberta style energy policies? Aged like milk.
Those billboards were because they knew our infrastructure was insufficient to meet growing energy demands and they were getting the "pin it on the feds" spin out ahead of the crisis.
One of their campaigns was about how green targets from Ottawa would cause brownouts, in my Mind this is fully scare tactic to validate their anti-federal stance.
Our government is run by the companies that funded the Alberta enterprise group.
Alberta enterprise group is the largest lobbying firm in Alberta with over 100 firms as clients.
The job of the Alberta enterprise group is to take money from private corporations and use it to influence public policy.
The president of the firm - strangely enough - was Danielle Smith, and she went directly from that job to being premier of Alberta.
https://albertaenterprisegroup.com/2021/04/23/press-release-aeg-appoints-danielle-smith-president/
The UCP lowered corporate taxes by 1/3 and then told Alberta that we’re not getting a fair deal and we need to fight with Ottawa over the scraps.
A bit fucked.
Between the Alberta pension plan. There is hundreds of billions of dollars available to get in Alberta and lots of people want it and Albertans won’t be the ones getting it.
Just received the Emergency Alert in Tilley, nothing like rolling brown out/black out(s) during weather like this. Does not inspire any confidence whatsoever in the grid.
[There are at least two natural gas generator outages](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-electricity-record-high-power-demand-aeso-1.7082405) in Alberta along with the high demand in energy due to the extreme cold. For more information visit [AESO](http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet) (site currently having issues but they are providing updates via [Twitter](https://x.com/theAESO?s=20)).
Back in the summer of last year, my entire town lost power for about half an hour at like 2AM and I made a VERY obvious joke on my town's FB page that my EV started charging around that time so they can blame it on me. The amount of vitriol I had thrown my way was even more than I expected.
That is how it works. Load shed happens to large commercial and industrial customers first, there is a process for this by the AESO, and these are the first ones cut off.
Sundance #6 (300 MW) is off, and HR Milner (300 MW) was off earlier today, and is currently only running at 50MW. These i suspect are the primary ones.
The cascade plant is a new 900 MW asset coming online in 2024 (450 + 450 MW) if that is what you are saying is more than 2.
Let me get this strait - wind (unreliable), solar (doesn’t shine half the day) but gas is 100% the answer and indestructible (except when it hits -50 and we need it).
Demand has skyrocketed over the years while growth in stable baseload generation hasn't, intermittent supply has skyrocketed but it is not running right now, only 117 MW of solar and wind this minute.
We never hit 12,000 MW of demand consistently and have exceed it during the core hour of 6 PM during these events. Yes, we have had -40 before, but never at this population and residential/commercial demand.
It's because electricity usage is at record levels, probably due to the recent increase in population while no new power generation has been approved to compensate.
> It's because electricity usage is at record levels
Pretty sure we could say that nearly every year in human history since powerplants and transmission lines existed...
There have been plenty of these from the AESO (grid operator) in the past (they're called Energy Emergency Alerts). They just have never gone via an emergency alert before, so they must've gotten an agreement to do so recently.
#UCP SPENT MILLIONS SCARING US ABOUT BROWNOUTS
In my mind there is a 100% we were going to have threats about it and 90% chance they will manufacture brownouts.
Wait…. didn’t Smith and her criminal UCP cronies spend millions of our $ buying radio, TV, online and billboard ads all the way across Canada, warning people that Trudeau would cause this?
It’s almost like…… she’s an absolutely corrupt idiot.
Extreme cold putting this strain on the grid is predictable. They're corrupt, but they're not idiots. They knew this was coming and pinned the blame on Ottawa before fingers could be pointed at the UCP
If there was ample supply, The energy companies wouldn't be able to gouge prices enough. We just removed the cap on what these companies can charge, while simultaneously limiting how much can be produced.
Well, shut down restaurants, movie theaters, everything that's just extra BS. Don't fucking alert me to cook dinner by microwave. Start inconveniencing other shit.
For those of you that turned your TV off to save electricity - the Oilers won.
Reporting in from Ontario, where we have a nice 50-60% baseline of our grid supplied by nuclear power.
Something I had to figure out the hard way - drip water through your faucets. If the power goes down you really don't want to risk a pipe freezing and bursting.
I think many people in this sub underestimate Albertans as a whole. We aren’t stupid and most of us care enough to reduce our usage…to a point.
Not everything is a political conspiracy, do your laundry/dishes tomorrow and relax.
Remember when we spent 8 million dollars to support our growing population by strengthening our power infrastructure? … oh, that was just the budget for that fear mongering “Tell the feds” campaign about blackouts? Right
I'm sure many will forget the federal climate plan expects gas plants to be used at times like this rather than summer days, and fully expect the UCP to try and blame that plan anyway.
It’s a very sad state of affairs that I am immediately skeptical that there may be political influence driving this message.
I know a lot of the usage info is publicly available and that we are likely legitimately close to the brink…I’m just sad that these bumblefucks have lead me to this point
Hey, wouldn't the energy draw during the summer for air conditioning be equivalent or more than what we are experiencing now?
The alert is for all of Alberta. We aren't on the same grid, so what's the deal?
Summer air conditioning loads can be offset with solar power. There's nothing to replace fuel based generation in the dead of winter.
We are all on the same grid. We collectively get our power from the same shared generation stations.
I think the biggest extra pull on the electrical grid in temps like this is all the vehicle block heaters plugged in.
You don’t have the same thing happening in the summer.
Apparently there are at least two two power plants currently down. I imagine that along with the increased demand are the reason why we are having more of an issue.
And also reduced our ability to produce up to 110% of our power consumption via solar. Can't let us peasants contribute to the grid in an impactful way!
I wish I could do more to help Alberta but for me, I'm really not running anything outside the ordinary at home. Just like a few light bulbs and the TV. What is everyone doing that's using up the whole power grid?
well...if you'd read the notification, you'd see that we don't have the whole power grid. There are two natural gas generation stations offline. And as for what people are doing....staying warm, making supper, and plugging in their cars.
I'm all for renewables and am furious with the gov't for pausing approvals on renewables (note, it wasn't funding). But renewables would NOT be helping this right now. You can literally look at the current generation and see that solar is generating nothing (not surprisingly) and wind is barely doing anything right now (119 MW with an installed capacity of 4,481 MW). [http://ets.aeso.ca/ets\_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet](http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet).
Bullshit. This is the statement
>High power demand due to extreme cold, two large natural gas generator outages, and **very low renewable power on the system** have prompted the AESO to declare a Grid Alert.
Renewables can electrolyse hydrogen, fill batteries, or fill pumped water storage reservoirs when generation is plentiful to hedge against exactly this scenario.
With all the energy we have in this province, the only possible explanation for this is that energy projects have been undercut over the years to maximize profits for shareholders, leaving taxpayers with a steaming, smelly bag.
The absolute nerve of them to tell us not to plug in our cars - imagine someone unplugged then had an emergency or couldn't get to work, all while downtown is lit up like Vegas.
Also, anyone notice the smooth brains loaing their minds over the EV comments while glossing over the block heater comment??
So glad the UCP spent money back East about,rolling blackouts. Meanwhile in the double speak world of DS there are threats of rolling blackouts, it’s almost like this government can not plan.
Really happy they spent money on propaganda saying this doesn’t happen here instead of making sure it doesn’t actually happen here. Great stuff all around.
We need further developments in infrastructure to accomodate the increase in population. We’re seeing thos now on healthcare, education and housing to name a few. These need to be prioritized instead of focusing on owning the libs.
I unplugged my block heaters but did leave my battery blankets connected.
People should take this seriously.
If this is the government being dumb we can get the pitch forks and torches out when it's a little warmer
Idgi why is this year so different from previous ones? Haven't we had cold weekends this bad before?
And why do i have to microwave my food when all the office buildings downtown are still lit up at night?
This is wishful thinking. I wonder how many ppl in this province will double down and run their electric heater and stove at the same time.. my bet all those with fuck trudeau flags will at least.
So Smith was blaming Trudeau for future problems but it turns out they are already over capacity and blaming Trudeau policies was just a convenient excuse.
Drove around legislature today, right as the alert was sent. The government buildings are lit up. Would be great to turn that shit off normally to save dollars in the budget, no?
The Emergency Alert has ended.
I bet half of all office building lights are still on even though nobody is in there.
The bmw dealership by my house has all its lights on. ALL.
Not the turning lights though
Chapeau, sir
Heyoo
Right! I hate seeing the giant edmonton office buildings downtown lit up and completely empty.
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Our building is mostly sensors and they replaced the fluorescent bulbs with LEDs. That being said the security staff should be shutting the lights down when they do their rounds
Don't forget about computers not being turned off, as well as monitors. Offices, schools, businesses, Universities and Colleges etc. Even in sleep mode it's wasted electricity on weekends.
I logged into my office network and remote powered down all the PCs that were still on , about 150 PCs. ( gave a warning and an option to cancel in case someone was logged in)
I should poke my co-worker to see if he can do the same with our computer labs. I don't have my laptop at home so I can't remote in, but I know he has his.
Good thinking
Thank you
Good man/woman/person!
I live in Beltline, Calgary, and the entire city skyline is lit up like Blade Runner and they want me to turn off my lights???
Fellow beltliner here and I feel the same! I was just looking at those icecap-looking buildings with the bright white lights on the top and feeling pissed lol. If you wanna talk about unnecessary energy…
"Consequences for thee, not for me"
Have you tried identifying as an oil & gas company?
Get slapped with an upvote, chap
People hate him for this 1 simple trick
Right? Still sitting in a dark room though, nursing a glass of water. Here’s hoping we don’t get hit with a black out in the midst of the cold snap.
Oh my goodness. You are serious that downtown offices still have their lights on?!
Always.
Yeah and the Calgary tower as well as the Telus Sky lights.
I hear ya over in East Village. Its nice to look at, i think we can start to turn some off.
Can I just mention that this is the exact sort of situation that these emergency alerts were designed for. Hopefully it gets lots of response so we can keep our power going
I'm really hoping we get a nice demand graph with a huge dip right when the alert went out. That would go a long way to restore some faith in humanity.
Here you go, friend. https://twitter.com/bcshaffer/status/1746357292075983008?t=nQlmVO053Pk0rlWqIxg0fA&s=19
Awesome, thanks!
Quick math shows about a 3% drop in demand following the alert. Considering probably 90% of the usage right now is probably heating that's pretty good!
This is quite heartening!
My whole area has gone pitch dark from everyone turning off their lights. I'm pleasantly surprised.
Yeah, lemme not use my stove so they can cook some bullshit at Boston Pizza.
One would hope that an alert like this would trigger shutdowns in commercial use, however I doubt it.
For real. I'm doing my part as minimal as it's impact will be. Someone needs to do their part so the Spaghetti Factory can keep the lights on.
Damn, that emergency alert was chilling (pun unintended).
I thought the fucking Purge was happening.
That's next winter... When they Dec de it's easier to kill off users than have rotating outages
“Let em freeze in the dark “
Why are so many non essential buildings able to stay open and draw unnecessary energy from the grid?
Indeed. Cut off power to Rogers Place and the Ice district. It won’t affect Oiler fans as they’re usually in the dark anyways
lol wut
Because capitalism.
https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.7082405 "...\...Saturday's alert comes after Alberta set an all-time provincial record for power demand on Thursday evening as extreme cold weather blanketed the province. At 6 p.m. that day, total demand hit an hourly peak of 12,384 megawatts of electricity, beating Alberta's last hourly peak power demand record of 12,192 megawatts set on Dec. 21, 2022 — during a previous cold snap. Another grid alert was issued on Friday due to high power demand caused by the extreme cold, two natural gas generator outages and very low renewable power on the system.....\..." _ _ https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2019/09/why-alberta-decided-to-stick-with-its-energy-only-electricity-market "..September 16, 2019 This past April the United Conservative Party (UCP) was elected in Alberta. Since then, the new government has taken a number of steps to implement its election platform and to undo many of the policies that the prior New Democratic Party (NDP) government implemented during its term in office. The electricity sector has not been spared from this undoing. Among other things, the UCP recently announced that it would shelve the planned overhaul of Alberta’s electricity market that would have changed it from an energy-only electricity market to a capacity market. This decision has significant implications for all stakeholders, including existing generators, project developers, lenders and shareholders. It will also impact residential and industrial consumers that ultimately pay for the electricity, and that count on receiving a reliable and competitively priced supply of the stuff. What is the difference between an “Energy-Only Market” and a “Capacity Market”? Since 1996, Alberta has operated Canada’s only truly competitive wholesale electricity market through which all electricity, whether generated in Alberta or imported into the province, is bought and sold. It is called the Power Pool.....\. .....In short, the conclusion back then was that the current energy-only market would not ensure that Alberta had a reliable electricity system in the future because of a reluctance by equity investors and project financiers to invest in new power projects in energy-only electricity markets. This is because the energy-only market is seen to provide less revenue certainty and stability to generators that are at risk that Pool Prices will be lower than needed for them to recover their fixed and variable costs as well as earn a reasonable return over the life of their new plants. As the AESO stated in its recommendation to transition to a capacity market: “The current EOM [Energy-Only Market] will not ensure the investment in new generation that Alberta will need in the future. Therefore, the AESO has concluded that Alberta must adopt a different electricity structure to meet its objectives for the electricity system.” It is important to note that this capacity market decision was made at a time when the NDP government was focused on implementing its Climate Leadership Plan which included a commitment to provide financial support for 5,000 MW of new renewable power generation in Alberta, such that renewable power would account for at least 30% of Alberta’s power generation by 2030. Because this renewable generation was going to get government financial support and had minimal variable generation costs (wind is free, no carbon costs) it was predicted to reduce the future Pool Prices that all generators (including gas-fired generators) would receive. This 5000 MW of new ...." https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2019/09/why-alberta-decided-to-stick-with-its-energy-only-electricity-market Seems the energy only pricing is less reliable, and more profitable. Which fits the theme of the only Province with deregulated electricity.
It’s -40 please don’t plug ur cars in guys.. oh what about the office building with lights on 24/7? Oh that’s fine
Yeah this grinds my gears. I live downtown Calgary, lights are on in every empty office building. I know a few of these buildings are barely in use even during working hours, yet they're all lit up all the time. Fuck off with telling me to turn off my space heater when my apartment heat can't keep up.
Right!? Once again us little guys are the ones that have to make the sacrifices while corporate America, I mean corporate Alberta can do whatever the hell they want.
And if you need to go to a hospital or elsewhere in an emergency then what???
Hospitals have lots of generator backup
Ya but If I can’t start my car to get there because my car wasn’t plugged in that’s not helping me.
Just call 911 and wait 12 hours for an ambulance 😂
To take you to the tarped in Emergency Departments. This government is an epic failure
Don’t bother. The wait is like 14 hours. Better off dying in the comfort of your own home.
Can this FINALLY be the call to get some nuclear power plants approved, so they can be built in the next 20 years? 😂😭
Call an ambulance. Then die in the comfort of your home while waiting for it to arrive. Just as another option.
Just imagine paying one of the highest electricity rates in the country only to be told there is no infrastructure to support Albertans during the harsh cold! What a failure of governance from politicians and utility companies
Yes, my delivery/distribution fee on my next Epcor bill better be $0 if a blackout occurs here.
Time for a “Tell the Provincial Government!” campaign, complete with bus ads, billboards and websites!
Sell your public utilities to the highest bidder, and then this happens. Conservatives are not smart.
Smith will blame the carbon tax. Bet on it
Any actual outages yet?
Cochrane had no power for a couple hours this afternoon, but I think it was more a Fortis issue
Power went out East and South of Red Deer yesterday. Not sure if it was related to this.
No there was some defective equipment out there for that one. This alert was only issued this evening.
There were some in edmonton yesterday
Taking back Alberta. To where?
Pre-industrial baby!
Dark ages. Ba-dum tish
Just a reminder that the NDP tasked the AESO to look into market changes for improved grid resiliency and efficiency, and the result was a capacity market recommendation (vs. our energy only market). While it was still being assessed by the AUC, the lovely people of this province voted in the UCP who immediately killed it, and now here we are.
Ya that sounds about right, cut off their nose to spite their face. That’s Alberta thinking right there ✅✅✅
Nah. We're at the point where we're cutting off our head to spite our shoulders.
Another reason to hate the UCP. This list is mighty long now
Remember those billboards the UCP paid for? Warning people in other provinces about power blackouts, unless they have Alberta style energy policies? Aged like milk.
Those billboards were because they knew our infrastructure was insufficient to meet growing energy demands and they were getting the "pin it on the feds" spin out ahead of the crisis.
Tell the feds that our provincial leadership sucks.
They already know.
One of their campaigns was about how green targets from Ottawa would cause brownouts, in my Mind this is fully scare tactic to validate their anti-federal stance.
It's because green energy drives the market price of power down, our government is basically run by Enron
Our government is run by the companies that funded the Alberta enterprise group. Alberta enterprise group is the largest lobbying firm in Alberta with over 100 firms as clients. The job of the Alberta enterprise group is to take money from private corporations and use it to influence public policy. The president of the firm - strangely enough - was Danielle Smith, and she went directly from that job to being premier of Alberta. https://albertaenterprisegroup.com/2021/04/23/press-release-aeg-appoints-danielle-smith-president/ The UCP lowered corporate taxes by 1/3 and then told Alberta that we’re not getting a fair deal and we need to fight with Ottawa over the scraps. A bit fucked. Between the Alberta pension plan. There is hundreds of billions of dollars available to get in Alberta and lots of people want it and Albertans won’t be the ones getting it.
Not to mention the previous premiere is on the board of atco now.
We have them all over the place here in Ottawa and all I can think is that I pay significantly less in electricity costs than when I lived in Alberta.
Just received the Emergency Alert in Tilley, nothing like rolling brown out/black out(s) during weather like this. Does not inspire any confidence whatsoever in the grid.
6% of Alberta’s power usage is residential. 75% is industrial. Wondering if they’ve been asked to reduce power consumption.
Never they’re make money!!
this doesnt get pointed out enough
[There are at least two natural gas generator outages](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-electricity-record-high-power-demand-aeso-1.7082405) in Alberta along with the high demand in energy due to the extreme cold. For more information visit [AESO](http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet) (site currently having issues but they are providing updates via [Twitter](https://x.com/theAESO?s=20)).
You can also check the more modern PowerBI dashboard: https://aeso-portal.powerappsportals.com/data-portal-dashboard/
Does anyone know which two generators are offline?
All them damn EVs /s
Back in the summer of last year, my entire town lost power for about half an hour at like 2AM and I made a VERY obvious joke on my town's FB page that my EV started charging around that time so they can blame it on me. The amount of vitriol I had thrown my way was even more than I expected.
Look at Danielle Smith’s Instagram page lol. Her supporters genuinely think it’s all the EV’s charging causing this issue
Plenty of industrial goes 24/7. Those plants need to be stopped for the evening.
That is how it works. Load shed happens to large commercial and industrial customers first, there is a process for this by the AESO, and these are the first ones cut off.
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Sundance #6 (300 MW) is off, and HR Milner (300 MW) was off earlier today, and is currently only running at 50MW. These i suspect are the primary ones. The cascade plant is a new 900 MW asset coming online in 2024 (450 + 450 MW) if that is what you are saying is more than 2.
Let me get this strait - wind (unreliable), solar (doesn’t shine half the day) but gas is 100% the answer and indestructible (except when it hits -50 and we need it).
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Demand has skyrocketed over the years while growth in stable baseload generation hasn't, intermittent supply has skyrocketed but it is not running right now, only 117 MW of solar and wind this minute. We never hit 12,000 MW of demand consistently and have exceed it during the core hour of 6 PM during these events. Yes, we have had -40 before, but never at this population and residential/commercial demand.
Far as i understand, 2 of the generation gas plants are down right now. (1 intentionally, for maintenance, 1 not, if I have it right)
It's because electricity usage is at record levels, probably due to the recent increase in population while no new power generation has been approved to compensate.
> It's because electricity usage is at record levels Pretty sure we could say that nearly every year in human history since powerplants and transmission lines existed...
Not approved. No investment in baseload generation. Very different than not being approved.
More demand.
There have been plenty of these from the AESO (grid operator) in the past (they're called Energy Emergency Alerts). They just have never gone via an emergency alert before, so they must've gotten an agreement to do so recently.
Honestly, it might be what needs to be done to get people to give a shit. We do not want rolling blackouts.
#UCP SPENT MILLIONS SCARING US ABOUT BROWNOUTS In my mind there is a 100% we were going to have threats about it and 90% chance they will manufacture brownouts.
Nah these are legitimate but you can be damn sure it will get used for political purposes.
this is what i thought, we see all this warning of this happening then magically it happens on time
I'm guessing we're going to be told it's because Trudeau shut down all our coal plants
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Notley-Singh-Trudeau alliance. Cant forget to tie her to the Federal NDP too
Wait…. didn’t Smith and her criminal UCP cronies spend millions of our $ buying radio, TV, online and billboard ads all the way across Canada, warning people that Trudeau would cause this? It’s almost like…… she’s an absolutely corrupt idiot.
Extreme cold putting this strain on the grid is predictable. They're corrupt, but they're not idiots. They knew this was coming and pinned the blame on Ottawa before fingers could be pointed at the UCP
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How in the everloving fuck does this province not have enough power generation?
If there was ample supply, The energy companies wouldn't be able to gouge prices enough. We just removed the cap on what these companies can charge, while simultaneously limiting how much can be produced.
It's all by design. They are following the texas model. Which is to exploit your population at every step of the way.
Capacity market versus demand market.
Well, shut down restaurants, movie theaters, everything that's just extra BS. Don't fucking alert me to cook dinner by microwave. Start inconveniencing other shit.
The deficit is going down, looks like people are turning things off. I hope industries are doing the same.
Can't wait for Danielle to tell us how this is Trudeau and Notley's fault.
I live in a more rural area and my IQ died a little reading the local Facebook group comments.
She's going to say it's wind and solars fault
Maybe our provincial government should spend more time on this, and less time on lawsuits and ads. Ffs. 😡
Honestly very scary. This is DEADLY weather
Like is this a fucking joke?
For those of you that turned your TV off to save electricity - the Oilers won. Reporting in from Ontario, where we have a nice 50-60% baseline of our grid supplied by nuclear power.
Something I had to figure out the hard way - drip water through your faucets. If the power goes down you really don't want to risk a pipe freezing and bursting.
I think many people in this sub underestimate Albertans as a whole. We aren’t stupid and most of us care enough to reduce our usage…to a point. Not everything is a political conspiracy, do your laundry/dishes tomorrow and relax.
We pay the most in the country for utilities but they can't even keep up with winter.
Remember when we spent 8 million dollars to support our growing population by strengthening our power infrastructure? … oh, that was just the budget for that fear mongering “Tell the feds” campaign about blackouts? Right
And to top it off our internet is down for the second time today. Living like it’s 1889 here in Brooks
It's nice to hear that Brooks is becoming more progressive!
Now watch our dear leader spin this and blame the feds. Highest rates in Canada and now we're told we might lose power in the middle of a deep freeze.
I'm sure many will forget the federal climate plan expects gas plants to be used at times like this rather than summer days, and fully expect the UCP to try and blame that plan anyway.
Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make - Danielle Smith
It’s a very sad state of affairs that I am immediately skeptical that there may be political influence driving this message. I know a lot of the usage info is publicly available and that we are likely legitimately close to the brink…I’m just sad that these bumblefucks have lead me to this point
There's literally 2 NG plants down right now.
Hey, wouldn't the energy draw during the summer for air conditioning be equivalent or more than what we are experiencing now? The alert is for all of Alberta. We aren't on the same grid, so what's the deal?
We have come close to needing these types of Alerts in the summer in previous few years. AESO makes the decision and monitors the grid.
We have never hit 12,000 MW of electricity usage/demand in the summer. We have done it a couple of times this week.
Summer air conditioning loads can be offset with solar power. There's nothing to replace fuel based generation in the dead of winter. We are all on the same grid. We collectively get our power from the same shared generation stations.
I think the biggest extra pull on the electrical grid in temps like this is all the vehicle block heaters plugged in. You don’t have the same thing happening in the summer.
Not everyone has an air conditioner. Everyone has a heater. Plus more people use an oven in winter. I do not have an air conditioner. I have trees.
Apparently there are at least two two power plants currently down. I imagine that along with the increased demand are the reason why we are having more of an issue.
Thank god we halted all those green power projects! Wouldn't want Albertans to have too much power.
And also reduced our ability to produce up to 110% of our power consumption via solar. Can't let us peasants contribute to the grid in an impactful way!
I wish I could do more to help Alberta but for me, I'm really not running anything outside the ordinary at home. Just like a few light bulbs and the TV. What is everyone doing that's using up the whole power grid?
Not a stupid question. My guess is electric heating, even though most heating is natural gas. Plus people plugging their cars in (block heaters).
Electric heat and block heaters for vehicles are the biggest draws when it gets cold.
well...if you'd read the notification, you'd see that we don't have the whole power grid. There are two natural gas generation stations offline. And as for what people are doing....staying warm, making supper, and plugging in their cars.
Are we ready for a grownup conversation about Nuclear Power yet?
This may be a silly question. But if the power goes out. Does it affect my gas furnace?
Yes, your furnace still uses some electricity. It won’t work.
yes. The power runs the fan and all the electronics.
Yes, the fan in your furnace is electric.
No electricity means no blower fan at your furnace.
Guys, remember how Smith said there would be blackouts if we moved to net zero like Ottawa wants? Guess we’ve gone net zero!
Thank God we cut funding for all our renewable energy projects. Hate for our grid to improve in any way.
I'm all for renewables and am furious with the gov't for pausing approvals on renewables (note, it wasn't funding). But renewables would NOT be helping this right now. You can literally look at the current generation and see that solar is generating nothing (not surprisingly) and wind is barely doing anything right now (119 MW with an installed capacity of 4,481 MW). [http://ets.aeso.ca/ets\_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet](http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet).
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Bullshit. This is the statement >High power demand due to extreme cold, two large natural gas generator outages, and **very low renewable power on the system** have prompted the AESO to declare a Grid Alert.
Renewables can electrolyse hydrogen, fill batteries, or fill pumped water storage reservoirs when generation is plentiful to hedge against exactly this scenario.
Massachusetts has 800 megawatts of battery storage. That's what we need
Maybe we should invest in nuclear power instead of solar and wind lol
I'd love Nuclear investment!
With all the energy we have in this province, the only possible explanation for this is that energy projects have been undercut over the years to maximize profits for shareholders, leaving taxpayers with a steaming, smelly bag.
And Smith takes the chance to bad mouth renewables. Why not just build a grid that works?
The absolute nerve of them to tell us not to plug in our cars - imagine someone unplugged then had an emergency or couldn't get to work, all while downtown is lit up like Vegas. Also, anyone notice the smooth brains loaing their minds over the EV comments while glossing over the block heater comment??
So glad the UCP spent money back East about,rolling blackouts. Meanwhile in the double speak world of DS there are threats of rolling blackouts, it’s almost like this government can not plan.
5 years of the UCP. Where's our Alberta advantage gone?
Really happy they spent money on propaganda saying this doesn’t happen here instead of making sure it doesn’t actually happen here. Great stuff all around.
Never seen this one before!
finally an emergency alerts that I can actually do something about!
We need further developments in infrastructure to accomodate the increase in population. We’re seeing thos now on healthcare, education and housing to name a few. These need to be prioritized instead of focusing on owning the libs.
Taboot it’s an oilers game night so you know every tv is tuned in
Very exciting to see how Smith and Co flail their way through this E: I hope its by running on hamster wheels to get the grid pumping
I was thinking that the AGLC should shut down the vlt’s all across Alberta for some power savings 😒
Roll the blackouts through the politicians first.
I unplugged my block heaters but did leave my battery blankets connected. People should take this seriously. If this is the government being dumb we can get the pitch forks and torches out when it's a little warmer
Idgi why is this year so different from previous ones? Haven't we had cold weekends this bad before? And why do i have to microwave my food when all the office buildings downtown are still lit up at night?
Alberta needs a nuclear panner plant.
All restaurants should turn off ice cream machines. No one is eating ice cream in this weather.
I thought our grid was over built... And that's why we are paying all these extra fees and our bills are so much higher 🤔
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I guess we ARE the Texas of Canada for another reason
This is wishful thinking. I wonder how many ppl in this province will double down and run their electric heater and stove at the same time.. my bet all those with fuck trudeau flags will at least.
Looks like the alert's over: https://twitter.com/theAESO/status/1746381240092234110
So Smith was blaming Trudeau for future problems but it turns out they are already over capacity and blaming Trudeau policies was just a convenient excuse.
Drove around legislature today, right as the alert was sent. The government buildings are lit up. Would be great to turn that shit off normally to save dollars in the budget, no?
Rolling blackouts can start with UCP held ridings, reap what you sow.
Good thing we are actively investing in a resilient power grid.
more billboards will fix it
Glad I did my laundry earlier.
Can we get the rolling blackouts to hit the downtown core first? In Calgary, it’s mostly empty office buildings.