Power grid alert ends after quick response from Albertans

The Alberta Emergency Alert that was sent out Saturday evening resulted in a quick response from Albertans to cut back on their power usage.

Due to the extreme cold temperatures sweeping across the province an urgent appeal was put out to avoid rotating power outages.

Albertans were urged to only use essential power and according to the government there was almost an immediate reaction with a 100 MW drop in electricity usage which lead to a 200 MW reduction in only minutes.

The grid alert was therefore cancelled at 8:40 p.m.

The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) issued a news release sharing their gratefulness for the quick response:

“The province-wide response to the call for energy conservation was tremendous,” says Mike Law, President and CEO of the AESO. “On behalf of the AESO, I would like to extend my thanks to all Albertans who responded to the call for action, which ensured we didn’t have to progress to rotating outages, keeping our grid up and running for all Albertans.”

Law also gratefully acknowledges the efforts of the AESO’s hard-working System Operators, as well as generation, transmission and distribution facility technical operations teams across the province, saying that it was “truly a collaborative effort.”

“I’d also like to thank the Government of Alberta for their efforts in helping us get the call to action, including activating the provincial emergency alert system,” adds Law.

With extremely cold temperatures forecast through tomorrow, the AESO requests that Albertans continue to conserve energy during the peak demand period from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

More information on Grid Alerts and tips for electricity conservation can be found at aeso.ca.