On Saturday afternoon, the Alberta Electric System Operator, or AESO, issued a provincewide emergency alert asking Albertans to immediately reduce their electricity use to minimize the potential for rotating outages across the province.
First the good news. Albertans responded to the call. Within minutes usage dropped significantly and rotating power outages were avoided. Well done, Alberta!
Now the bad news. The bozos are out in full force blaming the emergency alert on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (he’s pushing a net-zero power grid by 2035, you know) and Rachel Notley (she “shut down” coal plants, you know).
Really?
Trudeau’s renewable power agenda is not yet in force, and under Notley’s 2015 regs the coal-fired plants didn’t disappear; they were converted to natural gas-fired plants. Industry moved so quickly that it beat the deadline for conversion by seven years. See what you can do when you put your mind to it?
Furthermore, as University of Alberta professor Andrew Leach pointed out on X, “there are only two rules preventing the construction of new power plants in Alberta, one imposed by Stephen Harper and one imposed by Danielle Smith.”
In other words, if you want to blame someone, blame Harper and Smith.
The facts are important
Actually, let’s not blame anyone. Let’s acknowledge that we had a close call on Saturday and spewing misinformation is not helpful; it’s downright dangerous.
Why?
Because these kinds of power shortages will happen with more frequency as we move deeper into climate change. We can expect more days of extreme cold and extreme heat, which will drive up demand and put even more pressure on the power grid.
We need to be prepared, not angry. We need answers, not ideological bozos spreading misinformation.
We could start by getting a better understanding of how AESO went from predicting everything would be fine on Thursday to issuing an emergency alert on Saturday. They have the system supply experts; if anyone should have seen this coming, it was AESO.
Most importantly, we need a comprehensive plan that delivers reliable and affordable power while at the same time addressing the imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so we’re not a dog chasing its tail, going in circles and making things worse.
What we don’t need is Premier Danielle Smith and her supporters using Saturday’s emergency alert as an excuse to deep-six Alberta’s renewable energy industry and make our electricity supply problems worse.
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