Energy use in B.C. reached a new high Friday night, as extreme cold across the province drove up demand to 11,363 megawatts — breaking a record set in December 2022.
But B.C. Hydro still had enough supply to sell some to Alberta and U.S. states in the Pacific Northwest. “Our teams carefully plan and prepare for cold weather events like this to ensure our generating facilities are running at full capacity so we can deliver clean electricity to our customers when they need it the most,” Chris O’Riley, president and CEO of B.C. Hydro, said in a news release.
In Alberta, where power demand hit a record 12,384 megawatts, the province used all its reserves and was 200 megawatts away from a blackout, according to an Edmonton Journal report.
Officials in Alberta sent a mobile phone alert, asking residents to conserve power to avoid rolling blackouts.
Energy use in B.C. peaks in the winter, usually between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., Kevin Aquino, a spokesperson for B.C. Hydro, said. “This is when British Columbians come home, turn up the heat, switch on the lights, do laundry and make dinner.”
He said electricity demand during heat waves is about three-quarters of peak winter loads.
Extreme temperatures have been responsible for breaking a number of electricity demand records. The 2021 heat wave broke peak hourly demand records three days in a row.
The highest peak demand in summer was on June 28, 2021, during the heat wave, when demand reached 8,568 megawatts — 600 megawatts higher than pre-heat wave records.
Higher energy demand days from extreme weather events in B.C. are expected to continue to increase, according to a report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a non-profit focused on energy system reliability and security.
The report stated that as early as 2026, B.C. could be at risk of not generating enough power to meet demand, as increases in peak demand exceed provincial energy reserves.
Last year, following 18 months of drought, B.C. Hydro imported 10,000 gigawatt hours of electricity, a rarity for a Crown corporation that is typically a net exporter of power.
“We currently don’t have enough domestic power generation to meet the needs of today, even before additional electrification in the future,” Barry Penner, chair of B.C.’s Energy Futures Initiative, said in a statement following the report’s release.
“Reliance on imported energy from jurisdictions dealing with their own challenges could put British Columbians at risk of electricity shortages and higher user costs.”
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