On Oct. 1, 2024, Friends of Science Society hosted a live event in Calgary with special guest, Randy Stubbings, P. Eng., who shared insights from his 40 years of experience working in the Alberta electricity industry.

While many people assume that Net Zero by 2030 or 2050 is an attainable goal, few people appreciate the challenges in terms of scaling up the provincial power grids to provide sufficient, reliable, affordable power.  Nor do people understand how renewable energy like wind and solar affect the reliability and costs of power generation.

This presentation is focussed on Alberta, but many of the issues discussed are relevant to power grids anywhere.

While some people say grid scale batteries will ‘solve’ the problem, things like seasonal variability and long periods of ‘dunkelflaute’ (dead wind/cloudy skies), especially in Canada, are crucial factors in attempting to cover the gap by the use of batteries, as is the prohibitive cost of such a solution.

We hope you will enjoy the recorded version of the event:

 

The power point is here for your to peruse at your leisure.

Some other resources that may be of interest, particularly for Albertans, are the recent Alberta Electric System Operator Market Statistics Reports.

In the fall of 2022, Alberta had seven Grid Level Three alerts (impending blackouts) largely due to wind and solar suddenly dropping off, along with a lack of dispatchable power due to coal phase-out, during periods of extreme cold.  Since then, more dispatchable natural gas power plants have come on line, and you can see the changes in the AESO market statistic reports.  The pdf reports have very good graphs.

If you want to see the Current Supply and Demand by source, here is the AESO link.  The data updates every 15 minutes.  Note: if out of province or on a VPN you may not be able to access.

There is also an AESO real-time dashboard with a graphical display.

The AESO also has a Connection Project Reporting board showing various projects in the works.

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