I wonder if one of the contributors to the problem for Alberta is that Washington State needed power too, the BC intertie data shows that it was exporting more power to the US than the Alberta last night.
Assuming that the time is PST, there's also a pretty noticeable drop in power to Alberta right around the time the alert was sent out (around 6:45PM Calgary time):
Last edited by accord1999; 01-14-2024 at 05:06 PM.
I wonder if one of the contributors to the problem for Alberta is that Washington State needed power too, the BC intertie data shows that it was exporting more power to the US than the Alberta last night.
There was a major natural gas storage facility outside of Seattle that went offline yesterday afternoon that supplies significant volumes to power plants in the region. It was a major issue and definitely contributed to the overall power supply distribution in western North America.
Blasting through the resevers and kinda looks like BC is keeping us afloat, if they need their 300 MW back or the wind falls off then we're dun dun. 153 must be the max SK can give us cause that's the same as yesterday.
What’s worse? Five days at minus 30, or five days of forest fire smoke with air quality 10?
Of the options you presented I would take the smoke, but in reality for summer 2023 we had 21 full days of smoke i.e. the most ever, in which case I'd prefer this winter. We just had the mildest December on record.
Transmission lines have apparently come down at Cavalier Energy Centre east of Strathmore, taking another 120 MW offline. We are now taking almost 450 MW from BC to stay afloat. Reserves now gone.
Got to try out the Noco Potable Booster this weekend.Fired up a few frozen batteries this weekend with ease. Gets about 15-20 boosts per charge. 10/10 product
Last edited by Tuco; 01-14-2024 at 06:09 PM.
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Blasting through the resevers and kinda looks like BC is keeping us afloat, if they need their 300 MW back or the wind falls off then we're dun dun. 153 must be the max SK can give us cause that's the same as yesterday.
The bolded isn't really an issue at present demand. BC Hydro deliberately imports cheap power at night from the US and Alberta so they can raise the water levels in their dams, allowing for significant power generation (including for export) during the peak daytime/evening periods. Then they import again at night when demand and prices are lower. Even last night for instance, BC was importing an average of about 200 MW from Alberta between 1am and 7am.
That's one of the best things about hydro when it's integrated with more sporadic power generations sources. It can act like a battery of sorts by building up the water levels behind the dams when power is plentiful and then releasing it to generate power when it's needed.
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The bolded isn't really an issue at present demand. BC Hydro deliberately imports cheap power at night from the US and Alberta so they can raise the water levels in their dams, allowing for significant power generation (including for export) during the peak daytime/evening periods. Then they import again at night when demand and prices are lower. Even last night for instance, BC was importing an average of about 200 MW from Alberta between 1am and 7am.
That's one of the best things about hydro when it's integrated with more sporadic power generations sources. It can act like a battery of sorts by building up the water levels behind the dams when power is plentiful and then releasing it to generate power when it's needed.
Thanks. Yeah from watching these numbers all day and watching the BC number steadily climb to almost 500 MW with nobody panicking, it became clear we're alright and that they've got us covered. Last night was just a perfect storm in terms of us being low, a max of 153 from SK, and whatever reason BC was limited on what they could send.
Got to try out the Noco Potable Booster this weekend.Fired up a few frozen batteries this weekend with ease. Gets about 15-20 boosts per charge. 10/10 product
Nuclear is never going to happen no matter how good it is no use even talking about it.
Not really sure what you're talking about when 15%+ of Canada's power (and 61% of Ontario) already comes from nuclear. It also accounts for about 20% of the U.S energy. There's nothing magical or pie-in-the-sky about nuclear. It has been done and we're already using it. Just got invest in more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by D as in David
I have a friend who is an executive at a large O&G company and is in charge of a project looking into developing a nuclear power facility in western Canada. He says their estimates currently are showing a 10+ year time frame and over $12B to complete a SMR facility. If they're right, nuclear is ways off from being a solution.
Nuclear takes time to build for sure, but the last time I checked we're still going to need power in 10-50-100 year's time, so we need to think long term when investing in our energy grid. The best time to add to our nuclear fleet was decades ago, but we might as well start again today. Once you have a plant operating, they can reliably go for decades (most of our Canadian plants were built in the 70s and 80s).
Also from a timing perspective, keep in mind that if we're going all in on EVs and renewables, a lot more new mines will need to be developed to be able to source the various minerals that are needed for the increased demand. The typical mine in a western country Canada can often take 10-15 years to become fully operational. There's no easy quick solution if you want to get off of hydrocarbons...that's why it's important to think long-term and get it right.
And again, while people get focused on SMRs, nuclear is not some magical solution from the future that we need to push down the line. There are currently 60 nuclear reactors under construction around the world, and 110 being planned. If other countries can take action now, so can we. We've shown leadership before in nuclear (as our Candu reactors were exported around the world) and it's time we take a leadership position again. Outside of having plenty of educated engineers, Canada is also lucky enough to have one of the biggest uranium deposits in the world, and the second biggest uranium company in Cameco. We can do!
And lastly, while I'm a big believer in nuclear from a practical energy perspective, because it's something our geology allows us to supply from our own backyard, it also has the ability to give us much more energy security compared to other renewables like wind and solar, which we increasingly have to rely on China for. The current situation in Europe/Russia should be a great lesson in why it's important to have supply and energy security that we can control.
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so wait until black friday!! i remember looking on boxing day and the prices didn't really drop at all. black friday for the win.
i have not needed to use mine yet but my wife has used hers to jump a friend who left their interior light on. it worked flawlessly. i believe she has also used hers to charge her phone when camping.
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
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Around 2:00 today, I was driving WB on Stoney in the SE heading towards the Bow River bridge detour. A guy merged in front of me that was driving a motorcycle with a side car. It was -28 degrees at the time.
