The extreme cold that pushed Alberta’s grid to its limit this month is a reality check that the politics of electricity is much more than an overblown federal-provincial spat.launched last fall, is correct that the risk of rolling blackouts and no electricity in the depths of a Canadian winter is daunting.
Alberta’s renewables pause implemented in August has galvanized the UCP’s political critics, who called it blatant coddling of the province’s fossil fuel sector and an appeal to a renewables-skeptical rural base. But in reality, it was more about the Smith government awkwardly trying to get a handle on a competitive wholesale electricity market that has outgrown its original design.Today, the electricity market is in a rapid state of change and growth.
The incumbents, those natural-gas producers competing against low-cost renewables that will continue to be a major part of the system, need to make a profit, he argues. All those new wind turbines and solar panels in rural southern Alberta need to be connected to where the demand is. “Are we just going to build transmission lines everywhere?” Mr. Neudorf said.
Electricity is generally considered to be the purview of the provinces. But even on the ground, there should be recognition that Alberta has legitimate concerns about costs and grid reliability, and deep skepticism about whether Ottawa can get the details right in a province where the federal Liberals have little skin in the game.