Last night Alberta’s electric system operator (AESO) issued a province-wide emergency alert asking Albertans to immediately reduce their electricity use to minimize the potential for rotating outages across the province.
First the good news, Albertans responded to the call. Within minutes usage dropped significantly and rotating power outages were avoided. Well done, Alberta!
Now the bad news, the bozos are out in full force blaming the emergency alert on Justin Trudeau (he’s pushing a net-zero power grid by 2035, you know) and Rachel Notley (she “shut down” coal plants, you know).
Really?
Trudeau’s renewable power agenda is not yet in force and under Notley’s 2015 regs the coal-fired plants didn’t disappear; they were converted to natural gas-fired plants. Industry moved so quickly that it beat the deadline for conversion by seven years. See what you can do when you put your mind to it.
Furthermore, as the U of A prof Andrew Leach, pointed out on Twitter/X “there are only two rules preventing the construction of new power plants in Alberta, one imposed by Stephen Harper and one imposed by Danielle Smith.”
In other words, if you want to blame someone, blame Harper and Smith.
The facts are important
Actually, let’s not blame anyone. Let’s acknowledge that we had a close call on Saturday and spewing misinformation is not helpful, it’s downright dangerous.
Why?
Because these kinds of power shortages will happen with more frequency as we move deeper into climate change. We can expect more days of extreme cold and extreme heat which will drive up demand and put even more pressure on the power grid.
We need to be prepared, not angry. We need answers, not ideological bozos spreading misinformation.
We could start by getting a better understanding of how AESO went from predicting everything would be fine on Thursday to issuing an emergency alert on Saturday. They have the system supply experts; if anyone should have seen this coming it was AESO.
Most importantly we need a comprehensive plan that delivers reliable and affordable power while at the same time addresses the imperative to reduce GHG emissions so we’re not a dog chasing its tail, going in circles and making things worse.
What we don’t need is Danielle Smith and her supporters using Saturday’s emergency alert as an excuse to deep-six Alberta’s renewable energy industry and make our electricity supply problems worse.
For a quick refresher on the role of coal, natural gas, and renewables in the generation of electricity you may want to check out Blake Shaffer’s article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/opinion-alberta-end-coal-power-natural-gas-solar-wind-nuclear-1.6300606
Susan on the Soapbox 
It would be 100% helpful if empty commercial buildings turned off their lights. Witnessed the same corporate stupidity in the energy conserving 70s. The dishwasher was delayed til after 7pm meanwhile downtown is lit up like the sun. smh
Desiree, the Globe and Mail reported that AESO asked the industrial/commercial sector to cut back on its electricity usage as well. Interestingly, AESO did not disclose which industries/commercial entities complied or how much of a drop in usage resulted. So we don’t know whether they did what they could to help Albertans avoid disaster at the coldest time of the year or whether they stood back, expecting us to deal with it on our own. All I know is downtown Calgary was lit up like a Christmas tree.
And in 30% of the cases….no one is ever at home. Imagine if they even shuttered the empty spaces, what a mixed light show we the public could enjoy.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that two of the natural gas powered generation facilities were “down” on Friday, one was down for maintenance and other because of the cold.
So much for natural gas being the saviour of our electricity generation needs.
Fossil gas has other benefits….it leaks methane at every step in the production process…….so is often as dirty as coal.
But we’re the dummies who buy the propaganda put out by Big Oil…which may be why we so quickly want to point our fingers elsewhere. That the public bought fossil gas as a clean, transitional fuel is a sign of intellectual shame hanging around all our necks….mine included.
I had a fossil gas range years ago. When washing my kitchen walls annually, as me old mom demanded, I noticed the yellow grease on my cloths. But was I smart enough to connect the dots and imagine my children’s lungs??? No, my God forgive me, No.
The lies they use to trap us are simple….and we the simpleton public, buy into them more often than not. So sure: Renewables have to go…they just aren’t as reliable as Fossil Fuels and their smarty pants political boosters.
We might as well have a laugh as we fry the planet…and for sure: It’s on Us.
Mary, thank you for this. As I read your comment I thought about the articles I’ve read about the public’s gullibility and how we continue to vote against our best interests. There are so many reasons for this and I suspect greed (fossil fuel companies pay well) is at the top of the list. Sad, really.
Richard, good point. The Globe and Mail reported that two NG powered facilities were down on Friday and 2 more went down on the weekend. As you said, the argument that NG will save us is a myth. The entire system needs to be reviewed from top to bottom, I read that AESO is doing an internal review but I suspect it will be a trouble shooting review, not a comprehensive one.
Thank you Susan for pointing out the hypocrisy of this current provincial government. If they had the foresight to truly understand what it is going to take to move forward with a real energy plan they would understand we need every available means possible. A true plan moving forward would have solar with each house containing battery storage, wind, hydro, and yes natural gas. With all these we can move emissions in the right direction while creating new jobs and not devastating the oil and gas industry which we will require well into the 22nd century. The key will be to create an environment that we are not solely dependent on fossil fuels. I so wish that the politics could be put aside and a heartfelt discussion had by all parties involved and affected.
My thoughts.
Good article Susan. I agree with your suggestions Robert. Curiously, residents of BC were also interrupted by this alert – while watching the football game?? This has the markings of performance art as the Conservative Member of Parliament – Greg McLean – used this situation to blame the Liberals??
Any responsible organization – especially delivering power – would maintain a risk/opportunity register and review it frequently. A single-source of anything is risky. Smith’s government placed a moratorium on wind & solar. Maintaining the grid is Provincial responsibility – and something each province needs to pay attention to regardless the source of power generation. Looking at risks going forward, having various power storage capacity would also be prudent.
Kathleen, you raise a very good point about the risk of going with single-source electricity generation. This risk is further exacerbated when that source of our power is the private sector which doesn’t appear to have built in much in the way of backup or redundant capacity. So when a “perfect storm” happens (extreme cold, solar and wind backup unavailable, imports from BC, Sask and Montana lower than expected, and two (count ’em, two) generators go off line), we find ourselves within a few megawatts of losing power. That makes no sense to me.
This emergency alert had nothing to do with the federal liberals and everything to do with Ralph Klein and every other PC/UCP premier who’s come along since then.
Robert, exactly!!
I attended a presentation on climate mitigation measures a week ago. One member of the audience said that he’d installed solar on his house and it paid for itself in 2 years. I imagine the payback period varies depending on the house, however that was much better than I expected.
Isn’t that interesting Susan. I really see an opportunity for the Provincial Government with much smaller investment than building additional power plants to take advantage of some of the reusable energies. The best thing of all they don’t have to purchase any land. They are getting rent free infrastructure by subsidizing insulation at multiple single source points.
Our biggest problem is there is no one who is willing to think outside of the box. We are afraid of what lurks outside of those dark safe walls, no pun intended.
Thank you for what you do and please keep up the great work.
Cheers
Furthermore, as the U of A prof Andrew Leach, pointed out on Twitter/X “there are only two rules preventing the construction of new power plants in Alberta, one imposed by Stephen Harper and one imposed by Danielle Smith.”
May I ask which are the two rules Prof Andrew Leach is referring to?
Thank you all for the sagacity demonstrated on this blog. It breaks my heart how politics is run in this province. Ignorance is bliss, at the risk of breaking up this beautiful country.
The Orient Express, a dream impossible to realize at my age.
I would guess he is referring to Harper startig the phase out of coal plants and to Smith’s current moratorium on clean energy projects that nobody asked for.
Valjobson: I agree.
Anna, Leach wasn’t specific but I believe he was referring to Harper’s 2012 regulations and Smith’s moratorium on solar and wind.
PS If there’s anyway you can manage a trip on the Orient Express I’d urge you to take it. The train had no WiFi so we completely disconnected from the outside world. It was absolutely magical.
Thanks
Bruce D Rutley PhD 250 208 4805 ________________________________
You’re welcome Bruce.
It seems obvious to me that Danielle Smith is holding us hostage.
Art, it appears she’s determined to brainwash us into believing everything, even things that won’t happen for decades, is Justin Trudeau’s fault.
Critical analysis to challenge the DIS- information . Thankyou Susan!
You’re welcome David!
Susan: Thanks for sharing another great blog. This is exactly why the power generation system in Alberta is so messed up. Ralph Klein did a stupid venture into electricity deregulation. He had a false pretense that power prices would go down with electricity deregulation. Before electricity deregulation happened, Albertans had among the lowest power prices in North America. After that, Albertans had the highest power prices in Canada. Electricity has cost Albertans well over $30 billion. On top of this, Ralph Klein did the $10 billion Power Purchase Agreements debacle. It’s called the Enron Clause, because the Enron debacle in the United States has connections to electricity deregulation in Alberta. The Power Purchase Agreements enabled power company executives to get wealthier at the expense of Alberta power consumers. Furthermore, an Alberta PC cabinet minister, under premier Ralph Klein, created a bill where any new power transmission lines that would be built in Alberta, would be used for exporting the power to American states, and these new power transmission lines would be paid for by the power consumers in Alberta. In 2010-11, TransAlta was manipulating power prices in Alberta, and in 2015, they were found guilty, and were given a $56 million fine, which they have only passed onto the power consumers in Alberta. The NDP put in a cap to help lower power prices in Alberta, but the UCP removed that cap, making power prices in Alberta go up more. The UCP were also throwing around billions of dollars on various voter bribery schemes. One of these was where they were making it look like they were reducing power prices for Albertans, but this was merely a loan to power companies in Alberta, which power consumers are now paying back on their power bills. Furthermore, the UCP did another nasty move. They allowed power companies in Alberta to hold back the power, which increased power prices in Alberta substantially. This is known as economic witholding, and has cost Albertans around $100 billion, since June of 2020. The UCP are good at blaming others, but the problems stem from our provincial Conservative governments in Alberta. I’ll share some more fitting music. This is some live music from The Yardbirds, from 1967. It is from the Jimmy Page era of the band. It is a cover of a Bob Dylan song, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine). This was performed in Sweden. Keith Relf is on lead vocals and harmonica. Jimmy Page is on guitar. Chris Dreja is on bass guitar. Jim McCarty is on drums. Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were the also in The Yardbirds. Jimmy Page joined in 1966, after bassist Paul Samwell-Smith left. Jimmy Page was on bass guitar briefly, before taking on joint lead guitar with Jeff Beck. Chris Dreja switched to bass guitar, and after Jeff Beck left, The Yardbirds remained a quartet, until they broke up in July of 1968. Jimmy Page then formed Led Zeppelin. On January 9, Jimmy Page turned 80.
Dwayne, thank you for this comprehensive review of what’s been happening in Alberta since Klein deregulated the power sector. So Klein thought deregulation would reduce power prices and the opposite occurred. (The UCP are using a similar argument to support their pitch for more privatization in the health sector).
I understand that the economists think the “energy only” model is more efficient because the power companies aren’t stuck with unused capacity, but based on my experience in the natural gas pipeline sector (which is regulated) customers are willing to pay more to be sure there is redundant capacity that is available when plants go off line due to mechanical failure, weather, whatever. Just because something is “efficient” from an economist’s perspective, doesn’t mean it’s right in all situations.
PS Thanks for the Yardbirds. I too look forward to the day when Danielle Smith and the UCP go their way and we go ours.
Susan: Here’s some other important information about coal fired power plants in Canada and in Alberta.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ottawa-tells-energy-firms-to-start-powering-down-coal-fired-plants/article1373738/
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/parties-promise-to-close-alberta-coal-plants-encourage-renewable-energy/wcm/647fd51d-b0c2-47ee-830d-f88563fbd174/amp/
Thanks for this Dwayne. The article on the impact of leases on caribou herds was particularly interesting.
Blake Shaffer commented on last night’s situation:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1746559160148521280.html
Val: this was a great thread. I really liked Blake’s responses to the yahoos!
Susan: Because posting multiple links are difficult, here’s another article on Jim Prentice wanting coal fired power plants removed from Alberta, and wanting solar and wind power expansion.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/new-premier-prentice-says-canada-needs-new-markets-for-alberta-oil/article20651943/
Thanks Dwayne, for some reason the nutbars seem to think Trudeau and Notley were the first to plot the demise of coal fired power plants. They don’t seem to realize that Harper and Prentice got there well before they did.
Wasn’t the fault of solar or wind generation as the uninformed would love everyone to believe. We had two nat. gas generating plant offline on Saturday. One was a scheduled maintenance shutdown, the other was accidental, due to the cold weather. The question I have is why would a maintenance shutdown be scheduled for the middle of winter, which is a high demand time of the year? Why not spring or fall where one would expect the demand to be lower? It seems somewhat irresponsible to schedule this when demand would be high, unless they had another motive. Like profiting from higher demand rates created by supply issue of having a generating plant go offline now, instead of at a low demand time of the year. Just wondering out loud…….
docpop1 – you mean they intentionally scheduled a maintenance shutdown to create more demand and higher prices and including the blind eye of a government thirsty to prove that renewals do not work? The only negative is that one of the plants actually failed because of the cold ( darn it, it was not just the Wind Mills). With a little of UCP ingenuity, total lack of integrity and lots of power propaganda they excited their troops against renewables one more time. It is all repetition, repetition like the parrots and then suddenly they learn the slogans a la Harper and Manning.
Carlos: I too was surprised at how quickly UCP supporters jumped on the bandwagon that the power emergency was either (1) caused by renewables or (2) was evidence that renewables wouldn’t work in Alberta. When the reality of the situation was that the threat to our power supply was caused by failures of the existing natural gas power generation plants. Instead of pointing the finger of blame at Trudeau, they should have been asking Smith why she hasn’t taken steps to ensure the power companies have sufficient extra capacity on hand to ensure they will continue to operate even if one, two, three, four or five plants go down on the coldest days of the year (which incidentally will happen more frequently as we move deeper and deeper into climate change).
docpop1: This is an excellent question. All you have to do is google “what’s the coldest month in Alberta” and you’ll get “January and February where temperatures can drop as low as -30 to -40°C.” As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I worked for two multinational natural gas pipeline companies and a multinational petrochemical company. The maintenance guys were super careful about NOT scheduling maintenance at a time when demand was high. For one thing, it’s stupid, because if a plant is shut down, then you lose profit, right? .
Susan: Here is my second song pick, and it is from Jim McCarty, who is the longest original member of The Yardbirds. He was also in the group Renaissance, with Keith Relf, after The Yardbirds broke up in 1968. Keith Relf passed away in 1976, under tragic circumstances, at age 33.The Yardbirds reformed in the 1990s. Jim McCarty also did solo work. The song is from his third solo album, Walking In The Wild Land. This was recorded and released in 2017-18. It is Charmed, and Jim McCarty wrote it.
Dwayne, this was lovely. I googled Jim McCarty and learned he was born in 1943, so he would have been in his mid 70s when he recorded this song. Cool! .
Susan: Here is my final song pick. I am a fan of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. This was written by Larry Cox and Jesse Barish. It is Count On Me. It was recorded and released in 1978. I have this in my music collection. Such a great song.
Dwayne, this is a beautiful song! So full of light and colour, blue, emerald, ruby, very evocative. Thanks!
Good for you!
Thanks John.
Regarding the AESO emergency alert, you reference Andrew Leach’s X post about 2 laws preventing power generation plants being built in AB but no mention of what they are or supporting links to find them. So I found the X post of Leach and neither did he provide any further information other then that comment. So I did an internet search and could not find anything on these 2 laws, but I did find the following news article on power generation investment in Canada… please find a link to follow. I am interested in links to the 2 laws you mention and also your comments on the article I am providing the link to. Thanks.
Sorry.. Forgot to leave the link… Please find it at the end of the post.
Regarding the AESO emergency alert, you reference Andrew Leach’s X post about 2 laws preventing power generation plants being built in AB but no mention of what they are or supporting links to find them. So I found the X post of Leach and neither did he provide any further information other then that comment. So I did an internet search and could not find anything on these 2 laws, but I did find the following news article on power generation investment in Canada… please find a link to follow. I am interested in links to the 2 laws you mention and also your comments on the article I am providing the link to. Thanks.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/capital-power-ceo-says-not-planning-new-gas-fired-plants-due-trudeaus-2023-11-29/
Willard Wilton:
Thanks for the link to the Capital Power article. Dey indicates he’s not interested in building new plants or buying existing plants in Canada, however he might change his mind if the feds delayed their net-zero goal to 2045 (why?) and made changes “to the prescribed end of life for plants, restrictions on peak-use plants and use of offsets could make a net-zero grid realistic” (which I believe are being contemplated).
Also Dey has no concerns about buying “mid-life natural gas-fired plants in the United States”… which … “will provide critical supply when wind and solar power is insufficient.” Given that the feds have said back up NG generation is an exception to the new regs I would be interested in why Dey is prepared to be the back up electricity generator in the US but not in Canada.
Having worked for 6 different CEOs at large publicly traded companies all I can offer with respect to Dey’s comments is that every CEO has his own reasons for deciding when and where to invest.
I am deeply skeptical about the outsized role Andrew Leach has right now. I spent some time reading his rather garbled discussion of such a bright future for energy, blah blah blah in Alberta…flooding the zone with over information, facile phrases …like nuclear, let’s do it etc. But really lets look at him. He is a prof of economics and so-called expert on climate change in Calgary. All his outlets are conservative like the Globe and they LOVE him. He is advocating for a lot more “flexibility” in implementing Trudeau policy, particularly clean energy (and I mean Trudeau’s plan is very modest). This means oil and gas masters will continue to rule this province. And he will bring along the other provinces too and maybe trash any climate action in Canada in the end. Don’t forget these guys are brutal and they will lie and say anything. But what really convinced me was the line that will be quoted by everyone…that you could have thousands of renewables and they won;t scratch the surface of the low temp needs in the last few nights…it was a statement that the UCP would love…so simplistic.
Difficult to find his backstory. Remember, how often will these days occur in our future overheated environment. Why has Alberta done NOTHING to deal with water scarcity and climate change? Why are we the ordinary plebs paying the price? When I came to AB 7 years ago, I immediately looked for subsidies for flush toilets…my toilets in BC were basically free and were encouraged. But NOTHING. Why no subsidies on Solar panels, on heat pumps. As for nuclear. They need cool water. France had to shut many of theirs down last year when the heat was most intense. Hoping the Tyee will look at this and a statement by Pembina
Leach’s own blog has plenty of information:
“Andrew Leach is an energy and environmental economist and is a Professor at the University of Alberta. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Queen’s University, and a B.Sc (Environmental Sciences) and M.A. (Economics) from the University of Guelph and recently completed an L.L.M. from the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta. His research spans energy and environmental economics with a particular interest in climate change policies and the law…”
And he is transparent about work he has done for various governments including Notley’s, and other organizations.:
https://andrewleach.ca/conflict-of-interest-disclosure/
You need not agree with him, but don’t disparage his motives because you don’t know anything about him..
JCurrie and valjobson: I first became aware of Andrew Leach when he became the chair of Notley’s Climate Change panel. The panel’s plan was reasonably well received by both industry and environmentalists. Murray Edwards (Canadian Natural Resources), praised Notley’s gradual approach to oilsands restrictions and Mike Hudema (Greenpeace) praised Notley for taking a bold step but cautioned that more action was necessary. Frankly for Leach to pull that off required real finesse.
I have noticed that lately Leach has been extremely blunt about the limitations of renewables, unfortunately his pithy pronouncements make compelling soundbites for the anti-renewables crowd. I believe what he’s saying is we will always need natural gas to top up our power supply, but there’s no reason why the blend can’t be 80% (or something close to it) in renewables and (20%) natural gas.
You’re absolutely right about the relationship between climate change and water scarcity. Alberta uses copious amounts of water in the oilsands sector and agriculture (irrigation). The likelihood of drought and its impact on these two sectors, let alone the population in general, should be a very high priority for Smith’s government. Last week she announced she’s put together a panel to look into it. One more, too little, too late.
Here’s another factor to consider ‘energy market’ vs ‘capacity market’. Seems the UCP have taken a big gamble with generating capacity.
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/albertas-utilities-minister-defends-energy-only-power-market-amid-blackout-scare
Reynoldreimer: thanks for the link. This comment by Neudorf sums it up nicely: “a capacity market could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in generating contracts “sitting there in case of emergency….which when you need it, you really, really need it. But when you don’t, that’s very expensive insurance.”
Based on that logic, none of us should have house insurance because the likelihood that my house will going up in flames is less than one in ten. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230608/dq230608a-eng.htm
And if it was such a bad idea how come Alberta and Texas are the only two jurisdictions in Canada and the US that have adopted the “energy only” model?. All the other jurisdictions use the “capacity market” model.
“Coal-fired plants didn’t disappear; they were converted to natural gas-fired plants. Industry moved so quickly that it beat the deadline for conversion by seven years. See what you can do when you put your mind to it.”
Perhaps the $1.36B of taxpayers money the NDP gave the companies to convert was the motivator. Most of the coal plants could have run to the end of their designed life before Trudeau’s deadlines. Could the $1.36B have be spent better?
https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/alberta-reaches-1-36b-deal-to-shut-down-coal-plants
CB: fair question. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the negative impact of coal-fired power plants versus natural-gas fired power plants on health, environment, and climate.
For a fair comparison add the negative impact of fracking natural gas on health, environment, and climate.
Susan, got the AESO alert too. What made me smile was how the request to immediately reduce ‘non-essential’ electricity use specified not charging EV’s as one of the ways to reduce consumption, along with not running dishwashers, laundry machines or leaving on lights in unoccupied rooms. But the EV thing also made me think about consequences. If in our current environment where most vehicles are still powered by fossil fuels the relatively small number of EV’s is worthy of being mentioned during a power shortage, just imagine what future power shortages might be like when or if the vast majority of vehicles are EV’s? Frankly the more I learn about EV’s the more I think we are just exchanging one major issue for another & that is even before the environmental impact of mining for rare earth minerals is thrown into the mix. That doesn’t even take into account the performance or lack thereof in extreme cold. Does anyone know how EV’s perform in extreme heat?
Imagine a power shortage where people can plug into their cars for emergency power.
We need to reduce the GHG emissions caused by burning fosil fuels. ICEs burn fossil fuels so we need to stop using them. Mining for oil has a big environmental impact too.
Here’s a study showing EVs would produce less heat in morning rush hour in Singapore.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.810342/full
Here is a thought – why drive in Singapore at all? At 734.3 square kilometers it is smaller in actual land mass than the City of Calgary which is 825.3 square kilometers. Climate is also conducive to year round cycling, unlike Calgary even though plenty of folks do bicycle through the winter months here. Plus Singapore (also unlike Calgary) has a very extensive, robust, on time & efficient public transportation system – so good it is recommended to use it to travel around the entire country. Of course, Singapore also has over 5 million citizens compared to Calgary’s 1.3 million or so residents. So lots more folk to shift about.
EV’s are being treated like the answer to all our ICE problems. They aren’t. They are also not as ‘green’ as folks like to think. I’m all for replacing our reliance on fossil fuels, I just want better options than what we seem to be looking at right now. I’d add that EV’s do not do well in extreme cold & when I checked seems like extreme heat also impairs their performance by a significant amount. Frankly I think we need to figure out how to create bicycle driven vehicles – yes, Fred Flintstone cartoons do come to mind! – or figure out other types of technology that we can use to get around with that won’t cause their own set of environmental problems down the road – like, for instance, recycling EV batteries.
Linda, You make a very good point. We need to look at the impact of all our energy sources and continue to focus on the ones that do the least damage to the environment as a whole. I was listening to Peter Tertzakian;s podcast the other day. He interviewed an expert who’s name escapes me at the moment. This fellow said we have yet to gain as much benefit as we can from the “low hanging fruit” wind and solar and would be well advised to focus on them before we pour tons of money into CCS and nuclear, for example.
Val: thanks for the link. The impact of EVs in reducing heat was something I had not been aware of. I especially liked this sentence: “The results may support policy-makers toward designing holistic solutions to address the challenge of climate change adaptation and mitigation in cities.” Holistic solutions are what we need right now.
Hi Susan – congratulations on your articles being now published in the Tyee – some more sane voices is never too many in this miserable world. Thank you for your views and your common sense.
Jason Nixon’s reaction to Mayor Sohi’s Housing emergency declaration says it all about this government. I feel ashamed of being Albertan.
Unfortunately cannot move somewhere else because cannot afford housing anywhere.
The pathetic Federal Minister of Housing cannot understand how we cannot absorb 1 million people a year. Tough to understand but that is what happens when snake oil salesman are put in positions where at least you need some math skills and you are not in the pocket of Big Businesses.
If we do not react soon, Canada will be at the bottom of the OECD countries with the label that we simply killed one of the best Health Care Systems in the World, have exhausted all cod fish from the east coast, are in the process of doing the same to salmon on the West Coast. Despite our richness we are on line to do what the Brazilians have done and are doing in the Amazon forest and .. and.. are in the process of electing another Daniele Smith clone in the federal elections. Still go international and point fingers to everyone and import millions of people under the pretext that we have great hearts. Well we are just doing what big businesses and Oil companies want us to do. Forget standards of living, forget the overwhelming of our own people and just put some indigenous faces on Television to keep them admiring how important they are to us.
If this is not decline I wonder what it is.
What Canadians in general want is not even in the agenda and who cares?
In Alberta and more specifically in Edmonton we can now start getting tourists to witness overdoses in real time. They do not even need to much waiting, I have seen 2 in two weeks but you can see at least one a day.
Danielle Smith and her goons despite 3 years of surpluses do not have 10 bucks to buy them a donut. Take Danielle out of the chauffeured SUV and put her 5 minutes in front of Tim Hortons at the Commerce place where I take the bus everyday. It will cure her stupidity.
We do not need any fireworks anymore , we now have towers fully lit and warm but with no one in them, even during the alert to consume minimum electricity because our grid was about to collapse, and amazingly it was used to justify no support for renewable energy.
It is absolutely a brainless province these days. It is looking more and more like Dante’s Inferno. I am so happy my kids are already adults and understand what is going on, because the lack of respect for doctors, nurses, any professionals really is as bad as the respect the Taliban has for their own people.
But hey we like money!!! We are allowing this to happen and within 10 years we will start the discussion as to how come we did this and we will put some more faces on television and get our researcher to find out why we are so darn stupid, just like the Russian luminaries that went to Chernobyl to figure out why children around the plant were contaminated with radiation (true story by the way, not a joke)
Carlos, thanks. You hit on something I’ve been wondering about as well. Given our surpluses–oil companies are making money hand over fist, profits are through the roof, so corporate taxes and royalties should be flooding through the door. And yet we can’t afford to hire more doctors and nurses or pay them what they’re worth. Same goes for teachers and other professionals who provide services like seniors care.
Could it be that all these bone-headed subsidies to the private sector including the plan to pay oil companies to obey the law (RStar) are eating up the surplus at the expense of basic public services?
It’s maddening.
Susan, having worked indirectly for the power company in BC and NS ,Alberta’s operating system imo is a bit puzzling to say the least.
But the thing I find unexplainable is that no one seems to have anything to say about the amount of power that is being drawn by the crypto mining companies. When the emergency alert went out, did they have to shut down ? Or was the alert issued because of them coming back on line ( same as power surges in personal homes, after black out, you have to come back slowly) .From the article about the problems with the plant in Drumheller, that I read about a few months back, I don’t know if the issues were resolved, and the plant in Redeer may have been having problems because of the cold.
I live in BC ,but I have family in and around Edmonton, and my sister has been complaining for a few yrs about the rates in Alberta– mine are less than half of hers (.19kwh) Yet when Hut 8 signed their deal it was for only. 03Kwh . And if there is the 40+ crypto mining companies in Alberta, just how much power are they all using ,and at what price?
Danielle has been touting the “technology sector ” and Bitcoin for quite some time, as did Jkenny before he got caught letting mining companies set up without due process. I believe that the regulations were changed shortly after, though I can’t verify it. Danielle’s penchant for the CBC ,not the news but Canadian Blockchain Consortium , imo seems to go totally under the radar and considering power and water usage by these companies, I believe they are a great drain of resources in Alberta, over which, again, the taxpayers are being manipulated .
I’ve tried to give a voice to this for my families sake, and especially for the seniors who don’t know they are being taken advantage of. I’m not on social media, and have very limited access to the internet. Due to finances, I have only been following Alberta politics and your space when a commenter recommended a subject.
I don’t know if this is just a burr with me because I can’t get answers or is this just another one of those “out of sight” political manipulations that the public is not privy to? And FWIW— W.Brett Wilson buying up shares of a power co. in Jan of 23, raised all kind of red flags on my chart, but then again, that could just be me. He’s probably on the RStar list, therefore …what is the word, unculpable ?
Randi-Lee: excellent question! In all the press coverage about the emergency alert I saw only one reference, just one, to the fact that AESO sent a voluntary notice to industry asking if they would cut back their power usage. This story appeared in the Globe and Mail. AESO declined to identify (1) which industry players received the notice, (2) who complied and (3) how much of a drop in power usage resulted. Not surprisingly this made me wonder whether industry simply ignored the voluntary notice.
Your point about Bitcoin operators in particular is very well taken given that one of the larger players was running a bit coin mining operation without having any permits in place to do so. As you said, they appear to operate “under the radar”.
PS. I think more of us need to react to “burrs”…sometimes our instincts are bang on right!
Thank You !! Susan
just a postscript–
re: not charging the EV’s;
it’s been a rather long time since I lived in Edmonton, but it was pretty well mandatory ( if memory serves me right) that vehicles came with block heaters, apartments without plugins for your cars were on very bottom of list of rental units looked at (last resort).
So that being so, and given the ‘extreme’ cold ,did all the people in Alberta unplug their cars for the peak time, then PLUG them back in for the rest of the weekend ??
(tongue firmly in cheek)
randi-lee: good question. I too lived in Edmonton a long time ago. I’ll never forget the sight of cars and trucks parked outside of Smitty’s,, all plugged into the plugins in the parking lot, sending great clouds of exhaust fumes into the air while their owners dined inside.
Hello, This article was written by Joe Anglin, former MLA Rimbey-RMH-Sundre
NO SHORTAGE OF ELECTRICITY HERE. THERE IS ONLY A SHORTAGE OF A RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
The UCP government’s statements concerning Alberta’s recent electricity emergency alert were shamefully misleading. The UCP government took the opportunity to falsely blame Trudeau’s climate strategy. They further falsely blamed electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy projects as factors contributing to Alberta’s recent electricity crisis. None of these reasons have any merit, nor do they have any correlation to Alberta’s electricity supply mismanagement.
The Alberta Electricity System Operator (AESO) is responsible for managing Alberta’s energy-only electricity market. On Saturday January 13, 2024, the AESO declared an electricity shortage emergency. In creating this crisis, Alberta set a new peak electricity demand record of 12,384MW. The emergency was effectively averted with limited disclosure from the AESO for how and why this happened.
During the alert, the AESO announced that one base load gas generator was offline for regularly scheduled maintenance. Another base load gas generator tripped offline without any notice or further explanation. No other information was provided.
Without any consideration for importing electricity, Alberta has more than enough base load electricity capacity to meet its current needs. Base load generation in Alberta is comprised of gas, hydro, and coal generation. The AESO reports that the Alberta energy-only market has a Maximum Electricity Generation Capacity (MC) of 19,711MW of which Gas, Hydro, and Coal (base load) generation combine for a total of 13,536MW. Solar and wind power combine for an additional 6130MW. In addition, AESO reports Energy Storage capacity for 190MW. In summary, there is no shortage of electricity in Alberta.
It is clear from the AESO’s data that there is more than enough base-load generation (13,536MW) capacity in Alberta to serve a record demand set at 12,384MW. It is important to note, the record demand of *12,384MW *is 91% of base load production capacity, and 62% of Alberta’s maximum capacity to produce electricity.
How does a record demand of *12,384MW *result in a shortage of electricity when Alberta can produce at Maximum Capacity an additional *7,327MW? *How does a record demand of *12,384MW *result in a shortage of electricity when Alberta can produce an additional *1152MW *with its existing base load generators?
The answer is not that difficult to understand. Alberta’s energy-only market is designed for industry’s benefit. Albeit the public pays, the energy-only market is not designed for the public’s benefit. Generators profit by withholding electricity from the public. Withholding electricity from the market is lawful in Alberta, and as such, there is an incentive for Generators to withhold electricity from the market to drive up prices. If enough electricity is withheld from the market (public), a shortage is created and prices spike leading to skyrocketing profits. These shortages are more easily created during peak demand hours.
Alberta’s hourly electricity auction further confirms Alberta’s energy-only market is designed to guarantee that Generators profit. Should any hourly auction for electricity end in $0 per MW, and this occasionally occurs, the auction is nullified. Once nullified, Generators redo the auction with an opportunity to drive up the price of electricity. What should frustrate Albertans most, Alberta’s energy-only market prohibits the public from receiving the lowest price from the electricity offered for sale. Alberta’s regulations require consumers to pay the highest price for electricity offered at every auction even when much cheaper electricity was offered for sale.
In describing Alberta’s energy-only electricity system, Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities said, “Energy-only is we pay for energy, only! So if you produce energy, we pay for that. We don’t pay for contracts for (capacity) on standby like other jurisdictions. It’s good when things are going well.” Neudorf went on to say that a capacity market could result hundreds of millions of dollars in generating contracts, “sitting there in case of emergency.” “Which when you need [the electricity], you really, really need it. But when you don’t, that’s very expensive insurance.” (See: Jonny Wakefield, Alberta’s utilities minister defends ‘energy-only’ power market amid blackout scare, Edmonton Journal Jan 14, 2024.)
The minister’s published comments are a combination of bald inaccuracies and blatant falsehoods. Albertans don’t just pay for energy used. Albertans pay for unused energy the industry calls line-loss. Line-loss occurs when electricity is transmitted over distribution and transmission lines. Line-loss also occurs each time a generator connects to the grid (system). To be clear there is no incentive for Generators to reduce line-loss. Generators get to use the transmission grid for free. There is an incentive for Generators to increase line-loss because the public pays for the loss (electricity lost). What should enrage Albertans is the fact that Albertans must pay Generators for the line-loss when Generators export electricity to the U.S.
Peak demand for electricity occurs on the coldest and hottest days of the year. In fact, the AESO can predict the range of electricity required with considerable accuracy based on heating degree days (HHD) measurements. This ability to predict peak electricity demand is increased exponentially within 48-hours and 24-hours of any weather system passing through Alberta.
If Alberta’s energy-only market was designed for consumers’ benefit, who in their right mind, responsible for protecting the public interest would permit a base load generator to schedule offline maintenance during a peak demand month? Every jurisdiction managed for the public’s interest prohibits off-line maintenance during peak demand months.
Neudorf’s claim that capacity markets are expensive insurance to have a generator just “sitting there in case of emergency,” is shear nonsense. That is not how a capacity market works or any other electricity market for that matter. If this were true, Alberta’s energy-only market, which generally operates between a demand of 8,000MW and 9,000MW, and when at a record peak demand of *12,384MW *has an additional *7,327MW *just“sitting there in case of emergency[.]”
Alberta has more than 12,000MW of undeveloped hydro capacity on the Slave and Peace rivers combined. There is another the 25,000MW capacity within reach for Alberta’s use, should Alberta support and build a northern transmission corridor across Saskatchewan to connect B.C. Hydro (site C) with Manitoba Hydro. This would benefit all four provinces. At last survey, only Alberta opposes the project. Why? Flooding (no pun intended) Alberta with cheap reliable hydro power would collapse Alberta’s energy-only market.
Alberta’s 6130MW [and growing] combination of existing solar and wind power presents a very real threat to Alberta’s energy-only market. As electricity storage technologies advance, the UCP Government has tasked the AESO to study how energy storage technology can be used so that industry can maintain its profits. This task has been extremely difficult for Alberta’s regulators. Energy storage technologies are designed to drive down prices of electricity when combined with renewable energy sources.
There is never a shortage of electricity in Alberta. There is bad government and a dysfunctional electricity system called energy-only that allows Generators to withhold electricity from consumers. The system has more than doubled the monthly cost to consumers in the last decade. It raises costs even more when an electricity shortage is created.
Susan Samson: Wow! Joe Anglin absolutely nailed it!
His article raises serious questions about what actually happened over that scary weekend. Albertans have to demand a full scale public inquiry into not just what triggered the emergency alert but the games the government is playing in to keep the energy-only market players profitable.
Thank you for sharing this.
Andrew Leach about that cold spell, similar to your take, Susan:
https://www.readtheline.ca/p/andrew-leach-the-day-alberta-almost?r=1qeny8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I think @TheRealDKGray is a good follow for ideas about where to go next:
https://nitter.net/TheRealDKGray/status/1749108064031228176#m
Plus his good community list.
He and Leach and anyone sensible all argue for mixed forms of energy and also for ties with other provinces, territories, states to take advntage of their mixed forms of energy. Works for me.
Val: thanks for these links. The more information we have, the easier it will be to hold the UCP government accountable. I hope everyone is writing letters to Smith and Nathan Neudorf demanding a through transparent investigation of what happened and what we can do to avoid it happening again.