Alberta Power News Round Up – August 1st, 2017
- Samantha Hoffman, P.Eng.
- Sep 20, 2017
- 3 min read
Alberta News
A New Summer Peak
Alberta hit a new summer peak on Thursday: 10,852 MW.
Economic Recovery in Alberta
Bloomberg is predicting that Alberta will regain its title of the fastest growing economy in Canada, overtaking British Columbia.
Remedial Action Scheme List
The AESO has posted a list of remedial action schemes (RAS) used in Alberta. With the exception of the Calgary
Downtown Transmission Reinforcement project, new system projects have not been filed in the past few years.
In theory, reducing the number of new infrastructure projects will save Albertans money in the transmission rate base.
However, the projects are put forward to maintain reliability in the Calgary transmission system and maintain compliance with NERC and WECC reliability requirements.
An alternative to eliminating system deficiencies through the construction of new transmission infrastructure is the introduction of new remedial actions schemes.
If an overload condition is predicted (based on predetermined system conditions: e.g. transmission line load exceeds a predetermined value), the system will automatically take corrective action. This could be turning off generation, cutting off load or reconfiguring the transmission system.
I expect that RASs will become more common as the Alberta interconnected electric system (AIES) continues to develop and transmission infrastructure remains unchanged.
Long Term Adequacy Metrics
The AESO also posted their quarterly Long Term Adequacy Metrics. It includes some interesting graphics that reflect the robustness of the Alberta electric system.
Reserve Margin
This graph shows the Reserve Margin which measures how much excess generation is available in the system.
If all approved generator projects are constructed with their planned capacity. Alberta’s reserve margin will increase.
However, if only the projects which are currently under construction move forward, the reserve margin will decrease.
The Alberta Government is presently encouraging new generation construction with its Renewable Energy Program so it would be expected that more generation projects will be constructed.
Supply Cushion
The supply cushion shows how much excess generation was available on a daily basis over the last year.
In the past year, the lowest value was 500 MW.
Last year’s winter peak was 11,458 MW and this summer’s peak (to date) was 10,852 MW.
500 MW would appear to be a healthy margin.
Daily Peak Demand and Available Supply
The AESO also provided a graph which broke the generation into supply type along with the daily peak demand.
It is clear from this graph, that we are still a long way from the government’s goal of 30% renewable generation.
Supply Adequacy Short Fall
Finally, the report gave metrics to the probability of experiencing a supply shortfall in the next two years.
Clearly, the Alberta Electric System is not at risk of Experiencing a supply short fall.
My Take
Based on these statistics and the number of RASs that exist in Alberta, the higher risk exists in the transmission system and not available generation. However, is transmission deficiencies can be adequately handled through RASs, this will save significant cost to Alberta rate payers.
And again, check out the AESO’s report for more information.
Canadian and World News
Electric Vehicles
The Canadian Government is planning to install charging stations over 3,000 km of the Trans Canada Highway.
Energy Storage
There are lots of interesting new schemes for energy storage that are being developed.
Google’s moonshot program Alphabet is looking to create a storage system using salt and anti freeze.
Seimen’s is also developing an energy storage scheme with virtually no environmental impact using stones and steam to store power for approximately a week.
Wildfires in British Columbia
The wildfires continue in British Columbia. Sadly, I had to cancel my planned trip to Mt. Assiniboine National Park which has been evacuated by the wildfires.
BC Hydro released a beautiful photo showing a transmission line repair that had been damaged by the wildfire.
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