No power system immune from blackouts: Alberta report
Alberta's electricity watchdog has concluded that nothing could have been done to prevent blackouts in Calgary and Edmonton last month.
The report, released Thursday by Alberta's Market Surveillance Administrator, outlined the problems that led to rolling blackouts of up to 30 minutes on July 24.
"I guess what we learned is this is a rare event," said president Martin Merritt.
"It probably is not possible to design or operate a system that is immune from all combinations of foreseeable events."
The report did not include any recommendations to prevent similar incidents.
No single cause
The Market Surveillance Administrator was created to investigate and recommend sanctions for inappropriate market behaviour.
Critics had charged that companies capable of producing electricity deliberately reduced production during this period, but Merritt said there is no evidence those allegations are true.
The report concludes there wasn't a single cause for the problems.
However, hot weather caused record demand for electricity that day. As well,five large coal-fired power plants were offline —three for routine maintenance. Such maintenance has to be done in the summer when demand for electricity is generally lower, Merritt said.
Finally, a lightning strike shut down a major transmission line from B.C.
Call for tribunal
The circumstances may have been extraordinary, but such blackouts could happen again and Albertans need reliable power at an affordable price, said David Eggen, an NDP MLA.
Deregulation of electricity took effect in Alberta in 2001. Under a regulated power system, the plants wouldn't have been shut down at the same time, Eggen said.
Eggen is calling for a tribunal to review Alberta's deregulated system, but the provincial government said it's satisfied with the findings of the Market Surveillance Administrator.
Second review
The Alberta Electric System Operator, which oversees the province's power grid,is conducting its own review.
"If that does happen to find something that we can change and improve, we'll certainly do that," said spokeswoman Nancy Janes.
The organization won't make its findings public for security reasons, but it likely will release a summary of any policy recommendations when the review is complete in about a month.