Grid operator says all but one plant back in service

By Dan Healing, Calgary Herald July 10, 2012

CALGARY — With all but one plant back pumping electricity onto the grid Tuesday morning, the director of market operations for the Alberta Electric System Operator said chances are “pretty slim” Monday’s power outages will be repeated today.

But he couldn’t rule it out.

“Today we’re in much better shape, we have an additional 1,200 megawatts,” Doug Simpson told the Herald in a morning interview.

“That said, if we have a number of forced outages again, then I guess we could end up in that condition again.”

Lights went out all over Alberta on Monday as utility companies were ordered by the AESO to implement rolling blackouts because demand was exceeding electricity supply.

One coal-fired plant, TransAlta Utilities’ 362-megawatt Sundance 3, went down on Friday but came back on as scheduled at about 3 p.m. Monday.

But by then, four other plants had gone dark and Alberta’s backup power source, the wind generators centred mainly in southern Alberta, were becalmed, producing as little as six MW.

Simpson said Alberta moved to import power from B.C., taking 550 MW, the maximum the import line will hold, and picked up another 50 MW from Saskatchewan, the maximum that province could spare.

Meanwhile, the demand side was headed for the highest summer level on record, spiking at 9,885 MW, 300 MW higher than the previous record of 9,552 set last summer.

Simpson said wind power grew as the afternoon went on, peaking at 180 MW and helping restore the system to balance.

Paul Wright, vice-president of finance for ATCO Power, said Tuesday morning that the 385-MW Battle River 5 coal-fired unit, which went off-line Monday morning, remains dark and will likely stay that way until Thursday until mechanical issues are repaired.

Spot electricity prices spiked at the maximum $1,000 per megawatt-hour on Monday afternoon after trading as low as $11 earlier in the day.

Wright conceded that his company does see a financial gain from those prices, as would all of the generators, but he said speculation by critics that generators worked in concert is not true.

“Our situation is that it was an issue at the plant, it wasn’t anything other than that,” he said. “I can’t comment on other people’s speculation.”

In quick succession in early afternoon Monday, plant outages were experienced at TransAlta’s 406-MW Keephills 1, Capital Power’s 400-MW Genesee 2 and ATCO Power’s 385-MW Joffre CT201.

Capital Power said its plant had an instrument malfunction and automatically shut down, but was restarted quickly and back fully on line by 5:15 p.m.

At Keephills 1, a generator cooling temperature sensor was aggravated by the daytime heat and automatically shut down the unit, according to TransAlta.

Simpson said one other plant, a gas-fired generator at Balzac, also went out late Monday but that happened after the crisis was over and it was a brief outage.

Wednesday, 11 July 2012 02:01 May, Katie

Katie May
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
[email protected]
The City of Lethbridge followed protocol when it activated rotating blackouts across the city during a province-wide heat wave power shortage Monday afternoon. Power was out for a total of three hours in various areas of the city, mainly in westside residential neighbourhoods, with each outage lasting about 30 minutes.
Randy Doyle, the City of Lethbridge’s Electric Operations Distribution Manager, said city employees were following the rules when they chose to cut power first to westside residential neighbourhoods in favour of keeping the lights on at southside big-box stores and industrial properties.
“We go to the book and start following the plan as far as we’ve set it out in advance, and hopefully that works as effectively as it can be,” he said.
Shutting down electricity in more traffic-heavy areas of the city would’ve caused more chaos, Doyle said.
“We can’t be overly selective so if we kill the power to that whole section, we kill all the traffic lights as well, so traffic is severely impacted, the police are severely impacted. It just cascades down,” he said.
Still, the city does everything in its power to keep electricity up and running for big businesses and large-scale community events, Doyle said.
“Unless it was a province-wide catastrophic crash or a weather emergency that would, say, disable the whole of Lethbridge, we would never voluntarily shut down an event like that. We would look for other options in the residential neighbourhoods.”
On Monday, the province asked larger cities, including Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge, to reduce their electricity usage after six different power plants went down, putting pressure on the provincial grid.
The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) – the body that oversees the provincial grid – reported four coal power generation plants and two gas plants went down Monday, causing the high demand on electricity. But a spokesperson for the AESO wouldn’t say what caused six generators to shut down in one day, only that the outages were “all forced, all unplanned and all unpredictable, unforeseeable.”
“We’re susceptible to these unit trips and they don’t give us any warning when a unit trips off. It goes off in very short order and it can be at full output one minute and completely offline the next, and we have to deal with that. That’s what happened yesterday. There was very little time to give any notice to anyone,” said Doug Simpson, director of market operations for AESO.
The agency is working on an internal review of what went wrong, but Simpson said it’s unlikely the outcome of the review will be made public. Meanwhile, the AESO is still urging Albertans to curtail unnecessary electricity use, saying another blackout is possible.
“It’s always a risk. We have high temperatures continuing this week that will increase the demand that Alberta will experience and if we end up with these unpredictable forced outages again, we could be in the same situation. That said, it doesn’t happen very often,” Simpson said.
“It’s very unusual that that many units would be forced offline in the same day.”
The demand for electricity in Alberta reached a record-breaking peak of 9,885 megawatts at 2 p.m. Monday, up from last July’s record high of 9,552 megawatts, according to AESO.
The last time Alberta saw forced power outages was in 2006, when lightning strikes tripped out some generators and the provincial grid couldn’t handle the demand.
The power outages have added fuel to the fire of provincial politics, with one NDP MLA questioning Alberta’s deregulated electricity system.
In a news release issued Tuesday, Edmonton-Calder MLA David Eggen called for an investigation into the forced outages and for a return to a regulated system.
“We must have a report on why those four plants were down yesterday, or on whether there was any illegal manipulation of the system to jack up prices, or on why power companies can build a plant anywhere and we just have to build transmission to work with those plants,” he said in the news release. “But we don’t need a report on whether this deregulation nightmare is working for Albertans, either in terms of reliability or in terms of affordability.”

Tuesday, 10 July 2012 02:00 May, Katie

Katie May
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
[email protected]
Some Lethbridge residents were left in the dark Monday afternoon as a heat wave across the province put pressure on Alberta’s electricity grid, forcing blackouts in several communities.
Lethbridge, along with other cities including Calgary and Edmonton, had to power down amid humidity warnings and 30-degree weather because the province’s electrical system was in danger of overloading. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) – the body that looks after the provincial grid – pleaded with Albertans to cut their electricity consumption for fear of a widespread blackout, blaming increased use of air conditioners and irrigation equipment.
“We’ve identified that there is a supply shortfall and so we’ve notified all of the transmission facility owners and it’s up to them to decide what they need to do to ease the load,” said AESO spokesperson Erin Powell.
Around 2:30 p.m. Monday, the AESO told the City of Lethbridge it needed to immediately shut down four megawatts of electricity – enough to power 4,000 homes. For the next three hours, the city saw rotating power outages, mainly in westside residential neighbourhoods such as Paradise Canyon and RiverStone that don’t have traffic lights. Lethbridge College and some southside homes were also affected by the outages, which lasted about 30 minutes each.
Randy Doyle, the city’s electric operations distribution manager, had to figure out how to comply with the provincial order without disrupting too much of the city’s 150-megawatt peak power usage.
“We try to spread the pain, so to speak. We’re somewhat limited in our ability to do that because we try not to drop big commercial customers. If we drop the power at a bank, say, that’s a real problem,” said Doyle. “We try to stay with residential as much as we can, but ultimately if the province says we have to shut stuff off, we just have to start opening circuit breakers and dropping everyone who’s attached to that line.”
Such a widespread over-usage outage is rare in the Lethbridge area, Doyle said.
“I don’t think this has happened in probably a decade,” he said. “Today the system is definitely under stress.”
Power companies serving central and southern Alberta also shut down electricity to several communities Monday afternoon, though they had no estimation of how many customers were affected.
FortisAlberta said it pulled the plug on customers throughout its service area, including rural areas near Medicine Hat and Taber.
AltaLink, which supplies power to most of southern and central Alberta, had powered down at least 14 substations, most serving oilfield operations in those areas of the province to try to lessen the burden on residential customers, according to AltaLink spokesperson Scott Schreiner, who said that in addition to the sweltering heat, a few generators went offline, meaning the province didn’t have enough power supply to meet the demand.
“It’s pretty rare for something like this to happen, but fortunately the Alberta Electric System Operator has the contingency plans in place that allow us to do the systematic removal of load from the system so that it prevents a larger scale outage from happening,” he said.

July 10, 2012

 Edmonton… NDP Environment critic Rachel Notley said Alberta’s Conservatives are selling out Albertans if they don’t take a lesson from the National Transportation Safety Board’s report today.  Notley renewed her called for an independent public review of regulatory oversight of Alberta’s massive pipeline system.

Notley referenced the observation made by the NTSB Chairperson Deborah Hersman, where Hersman said “delegating too much authority to the regulated to assess their own system risks and correct them is tantamount to the fox guarding the henhouse.”

“Conservative environmental protection has always been weak,” Notley said.  “It’s always been more about press releases and polished PR campaigns than about actually getting boots on the ground, and regulations on the books.  But when we see repeated failures on the part of pipeline companies, both the environment and industry sustainability are put at risk.”

Alberta’s pipeline system rests almost entirely on industry self-regulation.  Notley noted that the ERCB employs a mere 90 inspectors to oversee 400,000 kilometers of pipeline and over 200,000 active wells.

“As things stand now, we are closing our eyes, crossing our fingers, and hoping for the best,” Notley said.  “Albertans deserve better.”

Alberta’s NDP Opposition – On Your Side.

#501 Legislature Annex, 9718-107 St, Edmonton, AB. T5K 1E4

www.NDPopposition.ab.ca

By Dave Cooper and DAN HEALING, Edmonton Journal and CALGARY HERALD July 10, 2012 9:54 AM

By PETER O’NEIL, Postmedia News July 10, 2012 11:05 AM

Opposition calls for full investigation

By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald July 10, 2012 8:07 AM

By Peter O’Neil, Calgary Herald July 10, 2012 10:09 AM

She made the comments while revealing the NTSB’s findings on the probable cause of a massive bitumen crude spill in Michigan in 2010 involving a pipeline owned by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., the proponent of the Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.

She disclosed that the total cost of the spill has now exceeded more than $800 million US, or more than five times the previous record for most costly spill on U.S. land.

“When we were examining Enbridge’s poor handling to their response to this rupture you can’t help but think about the Keystone Cops,” Hersman said, referring to the fictional incompetent policemen in silent film comedies of the early 20th century.

“Why didn’t they recognize what was happening and what took so long?”

She also asked if the 2010 Enbridge spill, as well as a 2010 Pacific Gas & Electric pipeline explosion in California that killed eight people and left another 58 injured, raised questions about the entire industry.

“In both cases we found problems with integrity management programs, control centres, public awareness programs, and emergency response,” she said.

“While our findings raise red flags about the safety of these two companies, they should also force us to ask hard questions of this vital industry.

“With more than 2.5 million miles of pipeline running through this country — enough to circle the earth one hundred times — we have to ask, ‘Are these companies representative of others’” If the answer is yes, we can expect to be back here again discussing the same issues with a different company. The only unknowns are when? Where? And, how much damage?”

Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Pat Daniel was in the audience as Hersman delivered her scathing comments on the company’s handling of the spill.

Hersman noted that the company took 17 hours after the initial alarm before taking action, and she added that the company failed to take action despite knowing for years that the pipeline suffered from corrosion dating back to 2004.

The NTSB will also propose safety recommendations stemming from the spill near the municipality of Marshall, which has so far caused more than $800 million US in damage and prompted earlier this month a proposed $3.7 million fine from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Enbridge has said the rupture resulted in the release of 843,444 gallons of diluted bitumen crude, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that 1,148,230 gallons of oil has already been collected in and near Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.

The incident has fired up international opposition to two major Canadian oilsands pipeline projects – Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal to Kitimat, and TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL project to the U.S. Gulf Coast that has been delayed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Significant attention has focused on the “human error” aspect of the 2010 spill, since the company didn’t start taking action until 17 hours after the first alarm warned of problems in Michigan.

The crude was released in a wetland area near Marshall, Michigan, a “high consequence area within a mostly rural, wet and low-lying region,” according to the NTSB.

“The released oil pooled into a marshy area over the rupture site before flowing 700 feet south into Talmadge Creek, which ultimately carried it into the Kalamazoo River.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation, in its justification for the $3.7 million fine that Enbridge has the right to challenge, also noted in its findings that Enbridge did not deal with “corrosion anomalies” on the Michigan line dating back to 2004.

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© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

US agency says uncovered two dozen violations

Reuters July 3, 2012 6:56 AM

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. pipeline regulator on Monday slapped a $3.7 million fine, the largest penalty ever imposed, on Enbridge Inc for a July 2010 crude oil spill which contaminated stretches of the Kalamzoo River in Michigan. The Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said its probe uncovered two dozen regulation violations related to the leak on Enbridge’s Line 6B near the town of Marshall, about mid-way between Detroit and Lake Michigan. “We will hold pipeline operators accountable if they do not follow proper safety procedures to protect the environment and local communities,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. Enbridge has 30 days to respond to the order. PHMSA’s order against Enbridge accuses the company of failing to adhere to regulations for maintaining pipeline integrity. The agency also said the company attempted to bring the pipeline back into service despite receiving multiple leak alarms the night it ruptured, leading to the release of more oil. Enbridge’s 30-inch line ultimately spilled more than 20,000 barrels of heavy crude and contaminated 38 miles (60 km) of the Kalamazoo River. The accident shut down the pipeline for more than two months and spawned a massive clean-up that the company has estimated will cost more than $700 million. Following the Enbridge spill and other major pipeline accidents, the Transportation Department enhanced its oversight last year. The department is collecting more data on pipelines and in 2011 closed 102 enforcement cases, its highest level for a single year. Last December, Congress passed a pipeline safety bill that raised maxiumum fines and authorized an increase in the number of pipeline inspectors. Enbridge said it was reviewing the PHMSA order. “We will not comment specifically on the contents of the (Notice of Probable Violation) until that analysis is complete,” the company said in a statement. © Copyright (c) Reuters

H. Hanlan, Letter to the Editor

Good morning Southern Alberta, Time to wake up and smell the coffee.  The Alberta Government plans for the electrical generation and transmission of power is at best a farce. For now though let’s concentrate on the effects closer to us and our homes and ranches. The line that Alta link is proposing to run through this country will affect every one of us, not just the property owners whose land they will cross.  We are going to pay for a transmission line that will be built on the assumption that multiple wind farms will be built throughout southern Alberta and this multi billion dollar line will be required to collect and transport this energy. To where? Think export to California and you will be closer to the truth than any politician will admit.  In May of 2010 Trans Alta applied for permission to export 48,000 MW.H per day. In July of the same year permission was granted. In 2010 Alberta’s daily average usage was 7,984 MW.H. So the plan to export nearly 7 times the power we Albertans require will require increased transmission capacity. Are you willing to pay for this?? I’m not. Presenting false fears of blackouts and shortages to justify these new lines is unacceptable to me.

Take a drive down Highway 810 south of the Pincher Creek-Macleod highway, or through any other high density wind generator area.  Then ask yourself if you really want to see more of this spread through the rest of the south.  I certainly don’t. I don’t want to subsidize the power generated by the wind to line the pockets of major companies. I don’t want to see our lovely country through wires and turning (or not turning) props. I would classify these wind towers as a blight on the land with a pollution value exceeding that of other generation methods. Add to that miles and miles of enormous transmission towers winding their way southward, then east, then back north. Miles of excess line that we will be forced to pay for.

Power loss on transmission lines runs 3% up to 7% based on the size and length of the line. Alta Link in 2010 estimated this loss at $70 million a year. Stelmach, in 2009 quoted $250 million and an M.L.A in 2010 quoted $350 million. Kind of makes you wonder if anyone really knows what the truth is doesn’t it???  80% of the power used in Alberta is used by industrial and commercial operations.  Can you really see southern Alberta becoming a large hub of industry??  Not likely!!  So wouldn’t it make more sense to generate power closer to the major users??  We have this vast surplus of natural gas in this province. It is clean burning and very cheap. Would a plant the size of Sheerness located on a section or two of land in the industrial area of the province not be a better idea than subsidizing the erection of hundreds and hundreds more wind towers and hundreds of miles of transmission towers throughout our homeland?

I am not an opponent of green energy however, it appears that wind power is not an economically viable commodity and to subsidize it, then add increased transmission costs to the users for miles of unnecessary lines at the expense of our beautiful landscape is not acceptable. Remember other power sources are necessary for the days the wind is over or under speed. To feed a fluctuating amount of power into a grid must be a nightmare. (more costs?)

Opponents will argue that the increasing population and industrial growth of our province requires this huge proposed electrical grid expansion.  This is not the truth. While the transmission charges and administration charges have increased your bill’s total by huge amounts (transmission charges increased 2009-2010 by 122%) the actual KW.H used has not increased that much. . Since 1996 Alberta’s generating capacity has grown 38% while demand has grown only 21%. Improved appliances, lighting, etc. have kept domestic usage fairly stable. The industrial usage has no doubt increased but if transmission costs and administration cost continue to rise, don’t be surprised when some of these major users install their own generating units or in the worst case, re-locate. We remaining residents will still be paying for the transmission lines.

We are fortunate to live in one of the loveliest parts of Alberta.  The wind, we have to live with, the windmills we do not. Let’s get this foolishness stopped while we still can. Come to the Alta link meetings, write your M.L.A. Ask that the need be proven with some facts not a snow job.

One more thing, do a web search on SNC Lavalin. They own Alta link. That should scare you.

H. Hanlan
Pincher Creek