FREE ALBERTA WIND!

As wind power begins to achieve its potential and displace fossil fuels as electricity, these kinds of challenges will emerge and get handled. It is all part of the exciting transition to New Energy.

Alberta wind power cap under fire
Richard Blackwell, July 30, 2007 (Toronto Globe and Mail)

WHO
Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight; Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), Warren Frost, vp; NDP Leader Brian Mason; Jason Edworthy, managing director, wind energy company TransAlta Corp.

click to enlarge

WHAT
AESO, Albeta’s grid operator, has capped the amount of wind energy in the province but has expressed a willingness to increase the cap level. The wind energy industry wants to produce as much as they can. AESO’s concern is about how to integrate wind’s intermittency into its ongoing transmission without destabilizing the grid. Energy Minister Knight proposed upping the cap. This angered both sides.

WHEN
AESO’s 900 megawatt cap on wind energy was set in 2006.

WHERE
The province of Alberta in Canada.

Wind potential in Canada. What works in Alberta will work across the country. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Alberta now produces 500 megawatts of wind energy but has huge resources. AESO now caps production at 900 megawatts and contends any production above that level would be disruptive. Wind producers claim this retards the development of the resource. Knight suggested raising the cap to 1500 megawatts.
- Wind industry representatives like Edworthy contend control systems can be put in place by AESO to manage wind’s intermittency at any level of production. The wind energy industry and AESO presently work together on forecasting of wind, placement of wind production, improved transmission and turbine controls to prevent surges in high winds.
- AESO’s Frost agrees improvements in managing wind can eliminate the cap. The 1st improvement needs to be better forecasting. Eventually, better transmission infrastructure inside Alberta and across provincial and national borders will be necessary.

QUOTES
Opposition partly leader Mason: “[The cap is] unjustified…[remove it and] unleash Alberta's green economy”.