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By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

UPDATED

‘Returned to normal market conditions’: Alberta grid alert ends

Jan 14, 2024 | 1:14 PM

Alberta’s electric operator AESO said the province’s power grid “returned to normal market conditions” after issuing an alert earlier Sunday.

AESO has issued a grid alert at 3:51 p.m. asking Albertans to reduce electricity consumption to “essential use only” until 8 p.m.

The alert ended at 10:18 p.m.

Officials also issued an alert Saturday, after which electricity use dropped significantly, AESO said.

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President and chief executive of AESO Mike Law said the response from Albertans on Saturday was enough to get the alert removed.

The AESO worked with the Government of Alberta to issue an emergency alert asking Albertans to immediately reduce their electricity use to essential needs only.

Almost immediately after the alert was issued, the AESO saw a large 100 MW drop in electricity demand, which amounted to a 200 MW reduction within minutes.

The grid alert was declared 6:45 p.m. ended at 8:40 p.m.

“The province-wide response to the call for energy conservation was tremendous,” Law said.

“On behalf of the AESO, I would like to extend my thanks to all Albertans who responded to the call for action, which ensured we didn’t have to progress to rotating outages, keeping our grid up and running for all Albertans.”