The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) issued a critical emergency alert on Saturday evening.
The Alert, issued at 6:45 pm, urged Albertans to reduce electricity use to minimize potential outages across the province.
Rotating outages mean that some power could be temporarily out in different parts of the province until sufficient generation returns to the grid or power demand declines enough that the AESO can rebalance supply and demand.
AESO also issued a grid alert on Friday afternoon due to “high power demand due to extreme cold, two large natural gas generator outages, and very low renewable power on the system.”
Saturday’s grid alert ended around 9 p.m.
“On top of high demand of our own energy generation, Alberta’s grid receives electricity from neighbouring provinces,” a statement from Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf explains. “Extreme weather in Saskatchewan and British Columbia is impacting electricity sharing, which is also a contributing factor to tonight’s grid alert. The Alberta Electric System Operator has activated its emergency grid management plan to work with local distribution utilities to avoid potential rolling brownouts.”
Alberta is under an extreme cold warning, with temperatures below -30 C and wind chill of -40 C.
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