Amid a prolonged heat wave across the province, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) said that earlier this week another record was broken.
"We hit a new summer peak record yesterday of 12,219 megawatts (MW). The previous summer record was 12,122 MW set on July 10," AESO tweeted on Thursday.
AESO is encouraging residents to try and reduce their electrical usage between 5 and 9:30 p.m. to reduce strain on the grid. Some electricity conservation tips include:
- Turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances
- Minimize the use of air conditioning/space heaters
- Delay the use of major power-consuming appliances such as washers, dryers and dishwashers until after peak hours
- Use cold water for washing clothes—most of the energy used goes to heating the water (only running full loads helps too)
- Delay charging electric vehicles and/or plugging in block heaters
- Cook with your microwave, crockpot or toaster oven instead of the stove
- Limit the use of kitchen or bathroom ventilation fans
- Use motion-detector lights in storage areas, garages, and outdoors when possible
- Work on a laptop instead of a desktop computer (laptops are more energy-efficient than desktop units)
So far this month, there has been one grid alert issued by AESO.
"The AESO issues a Grid Alert when the power system is under stress and we’re preparing to use emergency reserves to meet demand and maintain system reliability," AESO stated.
Consumers are asked to reduce their electricity use during Grid Alerts to help mitigate the possibility of undertaking more serious emergency measures to balance the system, including rotating power outages.
"Grid Alerts can be triggered by different factors that affect power generation and electricity demand, such as extremely cold or hot weather, which drives increased use of heating or air conditioning systems, the time of day and wind conditions, which impact the availability of solar and wind-generated energy, as well as unplanned generation facility outages."
Other factors beyond transmission and generation facility owners’ control, such as lightning, and downed power lines can also be contributing factors.
Much of southern Alberta continues to be under a heat warning issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada.