The Alberta Electric System Operator issued a new grid alert for the province Monday morning amid an ongoing stretch of extremely cold temperatures, but dropped it shortly after.
“The AESO has declared a grid alert due to extreme cold, and several power facility outages,” the non-profit organization tweeted at 8:12 a.m.
At 9:21 a.m., the AESO tweet that the grid alert had ended as “increasing wind and solar generation have created some relief on the system.”
The organization noted Albertans should continue to try to limit the amount of electricity they use between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., a time frame where power consumption in the province generally tends to peak.
The AESO acknowledged that “extreme cold continues to challenge all of us in Western Canada.”
The alert was the fourth one issued by the AESO since Friday, urging citizens to limit their power consumption during peak times and warning about the potential for rotating blackouts if demand gets too high.
No blackouts were needed, but the temperature in much of Alberta at the time of the second alert on Saturday was -40 C.
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The AESO says it works with industry partners “to keep electricity flowing throughout the province.”
“Our system controllers balance supply and demand 24/7, 365 days a year, to ensure four million Albertans have power when they need it,” the AESO’s website reads.
On its website, the AESO says it issues grid alerts when “the power system is under stress and we’re preparing to use emergency reserves to meet demand and maintain system reliability.”
“Consumers are asked to reduce their electricity use during grid alerts to help mitigate the possibility of undertaking more serious emergency measures to balance the system, including rotating power outages.”
Green energy plans criticized amid extreme cold
Some politicians in Western Canada have criticized the federal government’s green-energy plans amid the ongoing cold snap, saying on social media that they believe electricity grid alerts in Alberta show renewables cannot be relied on when temperatures drop.
The first alert on Friday prompted a tweet from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who called renewable energy sources unreliable and said natural gas was necessary to keep Canadians safe.
In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe posted on social media the next day saying his province had sent Alberta some surplus power generated through coal and natural gas.
Moe said such energy methods are the same ones the federal government wants to shut down, but Liberals disagree.
Randy Boissonnault, the only federal cabinet minister from Alberta and one of only two Liberal MPs from the province, called the statements from the premiers “a petty, untrue and partisan attack.”
He blamed part of the issue on “decades of under investment in the electricity grid.”
–With files from The Canadian Press
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