Albertans were asked to reduce their electricity consumption on Tuesday night as the entity responsible for the province’s electrical system issued a “grid alert.”
“(Grid alerts are issued) when the power system is under stress and we’re preparing to use emergency reserves to meet demand and maintain system reliability,” the Alberta Electric System Operator said in a post on its website.
“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.”
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The alert was issued at 6:14 p.m. and then lifted at 8:45 p.m.
An AESO spokesperson told Global News there were two primary reasons the system was under enough stress to prompt the alert: an unexpected generator outage and a planned outage of the Alberta/B.C. interconnection, which meant Alberta could not import electricity to make up the shortfall.
He added that because of low wind in the province on Tuesday, the amount of wind energy available was not adequate to help offset the shortage.