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With the recent cold snap, BC Hydro says it not only met the increased demand for power but provided support to other systems.
Extremely cold temperatures across the province led to record-high demand on Friday night, when peak hourly electricity demand hit 11,300 megawatts. BC Hydro says its previous record high was 10,977 megawatts, set in December 2022.
“Extreme weather events like drought and cold snaps are putting people and communities at increased risk,” Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne said in a press release.
“Thanks to the resiliency of our energy system and exceptional planning by BC Hydro, we are able to meet the needs of British Columbians while also delivering clean, reliable hydro-electricity to our neighbours in Alberta when they needed it most.”
BC Hydro says it provided support to Alberta and the Pacific Northwest. Both areas experienced higher demand and system challenges, and Alberta Electric Systems Operator issued grid alerts Friday and Saturday. An emergency alert was issued asking users to limit electricity usage due to a risk of rotating outages. BC Hydro says it exported 200 megawatts to Alberta during the emergency.
Friday’s consumption in B.C. was over 30 per cent higher than the previous Friday night. Saturday night's peak hourly load was nearly 11,000 megawatts.
“B.C. is fortunate to have an integrated, provincial hydroelectric system that allows BC Hydro to ramp up quickly when generation is needed and scale back when it is not,” said Chris O’Riley, president and CEO of BC Hydro.
“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.”
Some of BC Hydro’s largest reservoirs in the north and southwest of the province have been impacted by the historic drought BC faces. But, the company says it’s been planning for more than a year to manage these conditions.
“As a hydroelectric-based utility, the variability of water conditions and its impact on its reservoir levels is something that BC Hydro deals with every year,” says the company. “BC Hydro has the tools to manage these conditions, including multi-year storage in its reservoirs, regional diversity in its generating facilities, contracts for power, and the ability to import and export power through the Western Interconnection – a network of high-voltage transmission lines that connects B.C. with other utilities in western North America.”
The cold snap is expected to last a couple more days and demand is expected to remain higher than average, but not record breaking.
