What would you do, on a really cold day, if you had no power? Brian Zinchuk: Alberta won the energy lottery, yet it had to beg its neighbours if they could spare a megawatt? | Pipeline Online
Despite having more oil, coal, and natural gas, than most places can dream about, Alberta, Canada is having a bit of a power problem.
Saturday January 13th all wind power shut itself down due to the extreme cold. (On the order of -20 degrees Fahrenheit, so not really that extreme.) This was at night, so there was also no solar power. The neighboring provinces had no extra power. This caused a bit of an emergency.
It got so desperate the night of Saturday, Jan. 13, that the neighbours did not have another megawatt to spare. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) and the government of Alberta sent out an emergency alert to every cellphone and TV screen in the province, calling on people to shut off everything from stoves to bathroom fans, as well as unplug block heaters and electric vehicles.
Don't charge your electric vehicle, and don't heat your non-electric vehicle so it can start in the morning. It isn't like you have to go to work, or anything. And don't cook any food.
Some people blamed a small handful of natural gas plants being out of operation. Which is a greater concern – two of 87 gas fired units being down, or 88 of 88 wind and solar farms being down at the same time, as happened the morning of Jan. 14? Indeed, the vast majority of the 87 gas units and 2 coal units were indeed providing nearly all of Alberta’s power throughout the weekend.
They won't be happy until people freeze to death in the dark. It seems like Canada is nearly there.
We're public servants and we decided to pretend the future of humanity is hanging in the balance, because Global Warming,,,,
ReplyDeleteWe've destroyed what works and replaced it with a buncha crap that is more harmful than petroleum AND doesn't work.
But if you don't like it, you're evil. Insanity has become the default position.