(Calgary) Electricity Canada, an organization that brings together electricity companies and others that provide products and services to the electricity sector, estimates that the electrical systems throughout North America are increasingly at risk of being overloaded during extreme weather conditions.
Francis Bradley, CEO of Electricity Canada, observed that over the past two years, new peaks have been reached in terms of electricity demand. There was the case of Alberta in recent days, that of Ontario last summer and that of Quebec during the winter of 2022-2023.
South of the border, electricity networks have been put to the test in recent years. Winter storms led to power outages in Texas in 2021 and scorching heat waves forced California to declare repeated emergency alerts on the grid.
At the end of last week, in Alberta, an emergency alert was issued by the provincial government so that electricity consumption be reduced without delay in order to avoid possible power outages while temperatures were near 40 degrees Celsius below zero. Operator Alberta Electric System noted that electricity consumption dropped significantly within minutes of the alert being issued.
However, operator data shows alerts during heat waves and cold spells are becoming more common in Alberta. The power system operator issued only four provincial grid alerts in the four-year period between 2017 and 2020, but has issued an additional 17 since 2021.
Francis Bradley says all jurisdictions face growing demand for electricity, driven in part by increased demand for electric vehicles and other clean energy innovations, and no province has a perfect solution .
“Ontario, for example, has had concerns and asked its customers to reduce their consumption during heat waves in the past,” he said.
A report released in November by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned that much of North America was at high risk this winter of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions. Although in general, U.S. jurisdictions are more vulnerable to potential disruptions because they are less prepared for cold weather, the report also noted that parts of Canada were at risk.
Saskatchewan, for example, is considered at high risk of a power shortage this winter due to expected increases in demand, the retirement of a natural gas-fired power plant, and planned generator maintenance .
The Maritime provinces and even Quebec, which is a major electricity producer, are considered high risk in the report.
Mark Olson, manager of reliability assessments at NERC, says forecasting electricity demand has become difficult as extreme weather conditions intensify. He specifies that it is difficult for electricity network operators to predict or plan for climatic events that deviate completely from normal.
Rob Thornton, president and CEO of the International District Energy Association, said the grid alerts are concerning for the public, but added that it is important to understand that the risk of a catastrophic grid failure remains exceptionally high. weak. In his opinion, the network in North America is really reliable.
He still believes that events like those that occurred in Alberta last weekend show the importance of developing policies that will guarantee a resilient and reliable electricity system until 2050 and beyond. This will involve finding the right balance between distributed and intermittent electricity sources, investing in additional capacity to meet growing demand, building more connections between jurisdictions and much more.
Hydro-Québec, Hydro One in Ontario and New Brunswick Power are part of the list of Electricity Canada members.