ANALYSIS: Alberta’s Power Grid Alert Highlights Renewables’ Unreliability, Climate Policies’ Danger

Frigid cold of historic proportions in western Canada has amplified the limitations of renewable energy in Alberta’s power grid and the potential for federal environmental policies to make matters much worse and possibly life-threatening.  Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had on Jan. 10 described the challenges her province faces stemming from Ottawa’s “dangerous ideological policies.” Her words proved to be prescient, as just three days later, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) told Albertans “to immediately reduce their electricity use to minimize the potential for rotating outages across the province.” During the night of Jan. 11 and into the morning of Jan. 12, wind power generation in Alberta—with hundreds of turbines across 45 wind farms that cost billions—was producing just 0.8 percent of its capacity on one of the coldest nights of the year, even with wind blowing at 7 to 9 knots, according to Saskatchewan energy news site PipelineOnline.ca....