The Alberta Electric System Operator had expressed confidence earlier in the day at the province’s available generation
Albertans were issued a brief electricity grid alert Monday night as hot summer temperatures persisted.
The Alberta Electric System Operator issued the alert Monday around 9:13 p.m. It was rescinded about 30 minutes later at 9:49 p.m.
The AESO, the organization responsible for running Alberta’s power grid, did not say what prompted the order. Earlier in the day, it had expressed confidence in a statement to Postmedia that Alberta had enough electricity generation to meet demand over the coming days in which temperatures are expected to reach the mid-30s Celsius in Calgary.
“Our System Controllers are managing through this current heat wave in partnership with industry and at this time we have adequate generation forecasted for the next several days,” the AESO wrote in its Monday afternoon statement.
Alberta’s grid had stabilized as of Tuesday morning, with AESO data showing adequate energy availability projected for throughout the day.
The grid alert came well after the peak energy-use hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The AESO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The alert is one of several Albertans have been issued in 2024. Major natural gas outages and temperatures reaching close to -40 C prompted a critical alert on Jan. 13 — one of several issued during the cold snap. More alerts were issued on April 3 and 5 due to unexpected outages and tight supply.
More to come …