On Saturday evening, a critical emergency alert was issued in Alberta, requesting residents to reduce their electricity usage to avoid potential power outages across the province. The alert, issued at approximately 6:36 p.m. by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), highlighted that extreme cold weather was causing unusually high power demands, putting the electricity grid at risk of rotating outages.
Residents were advised to limit their electricity usage to essential needs, turn off non-essential lights and appliances, and minimize the use of space heaters. They were also asked to postpone using major power-consuming appliances. Nathan Neudorf, Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities, emphasized the urgency of reducing electric demand to essentials only, citing the high risk to the province’s electricity grid due to the extreme cold.
Leif Sollid, AESO’s manager of communications, noted a significant reduction in the strain on the power grid following the alert. However, he urged Albertans to continue conserving electricity as much as possible. He explained that rotating outages, which would result in short-duration power losses across the province, are a last resort measure.
The alert was initially issued at 3:30 p.m. on January 13 in response to the extreme cold, high electricity demand, and low imports. A similar alert was also issued the previous day due to high demand exacerbated by cold weather, generator outages, and low renewable power availability.
Alberta is experiencing severe cold, with temperatures dropping below -30 C and wind chill reaching -40 C, attributed to a polar vortex. On Thursday around 6 p.m., the province set a new hourly peak demand record at 12,384 megawatts, surpassing the previous record set in December 2022. AESO stated that the new record was driven by the combined energy needs of industrial, commercial, agricultural, and residential users.
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