Alberta Energy Usage Grid

Caper11

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The provlnce having to buy power at any time from other places seems like a major issue to me.

There is no good reason we cant have enough generation capacity in Alberta to meet our needs for now and the years ahead.

Exactly! I wondered why there is no talk of storage or extra storage being built in AB. There is lots of storage units driving around.
I for one will not be turning my AC down in the summer when an alert comes out, but lots of storage driving around, Ev’s can park and supply the grid for us when the storage is used up. Lol


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lilduke

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Exactly! I wondered why there is no talk of storage or extra storage being built in AB. There is lots of storage units driving around.
I for one will not be turning my AC down in the summer when an alert comes out, but lots of storage driving around, Ev’s can park and supply the grid for us when the storage is used up. Lol


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I don't see a point in bunch of energy storage. Just build up more generation capacity. Sell the extra, instead of buying.
 

turbo392

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The provlnce having to buy power at any time from other places seems like a major issue to me.

There is no good reason we cant have enough generation capacity in Alberta to meet our needs for now and the years ahead.
We will always buy power from our neighbours, regardless of how much we need and are producing. That is the way our industry is setup. We don’t have a capacity issue in Alberta, we have a production cost problem.
 

lilduke

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We will always buy power from our neighbours, regardless of how much we need and are producing. That is the way our industry is setup. We don’t have a capacity issue in Alberta, we have a production cost problem.

Could you eleborate on that a bit? Sounds like something that could be easily fixed to me.
 

MP Kid

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The problem is most Canadians are stupid…..

We have a long history of producing/exporting raw goods, and import refined products.
Natural gas in exchange for electricity is no different….
I’m willing to bet, if you surveyed most people from major Canadian cities, is it a good idea for Canada to export gas in exchange for power(electricity), they would agree…. Not smart enough to maybe think of producing it ourselves…..
 

ABMax24

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The provlnce having to buy power at any time from other places seems like a major issue to me.

There is no good reason we cant have enough generation capacity in Alberta to meet our needs for now and the years ahead.

Would be the solution in an ideal world.

The federal carbon tax is the real industry killer here. Come 2030 the carbon tax will hit $170/tonne. At that price a state of the art combined cycle natural gas powerplant operating at 60% thermal efficiency will pay $52/mwh in carbon tax alone, before any other operating cost is added.

Coal is even worse, our aging fleet of coal power plants would be $160/mwh in carbon tax (assuming they were still operating then).

No investor wants to shell out $100's of millions to build a fossil fuel based powerplant in Alberta with that cost looming over them.

Unfortunately this is a made in Ottawa problem, gotta punt the Turd before Alberta see's much relief on electricity prices.
 

lilduke

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Yes because carbon dioxide is evil.

According to trudea it is. But the techology exsists to produce low carbon unlitimed power 24/7

But maybe mpkid is right. Canadains,are so dumb they want to freeze in the dark.


Luckly im not a mass of land, so i can go any where. Id like to find of those opra deals on a tropical island some where. Haha
 

tmo1620

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So the lack of generating capacity in the province and price gouging by the traditional coal and natural gas generators is the fault of wind power producers?

Pool prices in the province are lowest when wind and solar plants are producing. The higher prices come when natural gas and coal take over the capacity. Seems your financial issues lie with them, not the renewable producers.

Besides, who operates a pulp mill without onsite generation?

Bctmp mills mostly all run like that, we use energy to break down wood chips not the archaic Kraft way of soaking them in chemical baths. 10,000hp motors spinning cast plates and feeding wood chips through a 1mm gap takes a lot of juice. 9MW/hr per motor x 6 plus the rest of the facility is a lot of juice to generate and has a ton of red tape associated with it. There isn’t a lack of power generation, a comment from an uneducated individual is all that is . There is tons of power generation, govt along with Aeso dictates who and how producers run. If clueless politicians and fat cats deem a certain source of power to be “not green enough” they restrict and limit when and how they operate. Whether it’s by price they are paid, certain MW thresholds in which they can operate, carbon taxes, or by just flat out shutting them down, they do as they please to push a certain form of power that they have their greasy little hands in. It’s all in the name of money. They have shut down or scaled back a ton of reliable sources of power and replaced with wind and solar and a couple combined cycle. If wind was as consistent as the forms of power they replaced, or if we got sun 24 hrs a day we wouldn’t have a problem. Unfortunately wind is garbage and solar works part time. We used to own our own power plant back when we built this facility but it was more economical to take power from the grid then to use our own. Makes no sense but that’s how the Alberta grid is ran. We are a world leader in BCTMP and we are struggling hard as are a lot of other facilities that aren’t near at our calibre. Your definitely the minority in thinking wind is the solution….. it’s not your fault, not everyone is a 1st round pick.


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adamg

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My Firehouse Sub came in a strange pressed paper/board container. Kind of like an old Chinese food foam container.
 

Dragonalain

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We will always buy power from our neighbours, regardless of how much we need and are producing. That is the way our industry is setup. We don’t have a capacity issue in Alberta, we have a production cost problem.

That’s bs I worked in the power industry (repairing the machines to make it) for a few years when I lived in Edmonton. Not very often we would be buying power. We actually preferred to produce extra power so we could sell it to the USA for a premium. That was 10 years ago and a lot has changed since then. Now they just want to pass the emissions to someone else.

Alberta used to have cheap power. Now when I see the price per megawatt I just think of all the overtime the mechanics and operators are getting.


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sirkdev

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This is a no brainer.. it’s all about control. Oil and gas is the wild west and is developed as the market demands more. The overlords do not like that common man can control this. Unreliable energy sources make us dependent on handouts.
 

2kDoo

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Where else in the world can you or I start an oil company and go drill?
No where. It's why Western Canada in under attack. Must be state owned at all costs. Friggen communists
 

smokinD

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Where else in the world can you or I start an oil company and go drill?
No where. It's why Western Canada in under attack. Must be state owned at all costs. Friggen communists
Or Res owned and Corporate managed! Same chit just different bilking techniques used by both.
 

imdoo'n

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When the new combined cycle plant in Edson gets put on line it will bring another 900mw to the grid. Solar and wind do not cut if, its too unreliable, and we need more combined cycle plants built, along with storage facilities.


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bring coal generation back to supply baseload, gas to meet peak demand. dump the Liberals and the NDP, that should get us back on track
 
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ABMax24

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bring back Coal generation as baseload, natural gas generation to ramp up to power demand, dump so;ar and wind energy generation to any one who will take it, as it just doesn;'t work in Alberta. coegen can supply excess power they don't use, but there own use demand rises as the grid demand also rises. firinfgsquad for NDP who did this to ALberta

Coal ain't coming back, not in Alberta or anywhere else in Canada.

After that let the free market decide what generation to build in Alberta, that means all Provincial leaders (including Danielle Smith) need to get out of the way of energy projects and just ensure they are approved in a timely manner. Alberta will become the least carbon intensive (outside of pure hydropower states like BC) and most reliable electricity market on the continent in a couple decades if just left alone by politicians.
 

imdoo'n

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The provlnce having to buy power at any time from other places seems like a major issue to me.

There is no good reason we cant have enough generation capacity in Alberta to meet our needs for now and the years ahead.
very true, but it could be years to catch up!
 

imdoo'n

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Coal ain't coming back, not in Alberta or anywhere else in Canada.

After that let the free market decide what generation to build in Alberta, that means all Provincial leaders (including Danielle Smith) need to get out of the way of energy projects and just ensure they are approved in a timely manner. Alberta will become the least carbon intensive (outside of pure hydropower states like BC) and most reliable electricity market on the continent in a couple decades if just left alone by politicians.
never bet on never, ever!
 
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