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Alberta Power Outages And The Texas Grid Failure In 2021


Dom and Jordanna Linic

The February 2021 Texas energy crisis sent shockwaves through North America’s energy markets, highlighting vulnerabilities even in well-established systems. For Alberta, with a similarly deregulated electricity market, the situation in Texas offers important lessons on how to avoid such a catastrophe.


Alberta and Texas: Parallels in Deregulated Energy Markets

Alberta, like Texas, operates on an “energy-only” market model, where electricity producers are paid solely for the energy they provide rather than for maintaining reserve capacity. This design fosters competition but leaves little margin for error when demand spikes or supply is disrupted. Given these similarities, it’s crucial to ask: Could what happened in Texas happen here?


What Went Wrong in Texas

During the polar vortex in February 2021, Texas experienced a near-complete failure of its power grid, largely due to unanticipated extreme weather. There were two main issues:


  1. Failure of Power Plants: Thermal power plants, which supply the bulk of Texas’ electricity, were not adequately winterized, leading to mechanical failures during the deep freeze.

  2. Demand Surge: Texans cranked up the heat in poorly insulated homes, causing a massive increase in electricity demand, further straining the grid.


Natural gas, the backbone of both Texas and Alberta’s electricity supply, was the largest failure point. Not only were gas plants unable to perform, but gas production and processing facilities also froze up, compounding the crisis.


Lessons for Alberta

Alberta’s reliance on natural gas to generate electricity is significant, and with the retirement of coal-fired plants, this dependence will only grow. Unlike Texas, most Albertan homes rely on natural gas for heating, which offers some resilience during cold weather. However, Alberta’s electric grid remains vulnerable to extreme weather events.


To avoid a crisis like Texas, Alberta must adopt proactive, forward-looking system planning, particularly as climate change makes extreme and unpredictable weather more common.


  1. Winterization and Weatherization: While Alberta’s natural gas infrastructure is generally built to withstand cold, it’s unclear whether the same level of planning has been applied to handle extreme heat or wildfire risks, both of which could disrupt supply.

  2. Emergency Preparedness: Alberta’s energy market, like Texas, lacks a central planning role for emergency situations. The Texas crisis shows that Alberta needs rigorous planning and coordination between regulatory agencies to ensure electricity and gas systems can handle extreme events.

  3. Communication and Coordination: A key takeaway from Texas is the importance of communication with the public during crises. Clear guidelines on what to expect and how to prepare can save lives and minimize the impact on the grid during emergencies.

  4. Common Sense Legislation: In 2015 the NDP provincial government lead by Premier Rachel Notley shut down coal power plans without sufficient base load generation to replace it. A more common sense plan would have been to slowly phase out coal power plants by 2030 as new power generation plants came online. Albertan's are now in the dark because of Rachel Notley's virtue signalling policies.


Moving Forward

The Texas crisis serves as a stark reminder that even the most advanced energy markets are not immune to failure. Alberta must take these lessons to heart, reinforcing its system’s resilience and improving coordination across the energy sector. Extreme weather will continue to challenge Alberta’s energy system, but with proper planning, proactive measures, and clear communication, we can avoid the pitfalls that led to the Texas blackout.


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Special Thanks To: Keller Mulumba for scouring the internet to find this data.


Data Source: A lecture hosted by The Canadian chapter of the Energy Bar Association. Participants include:

  • Pat Wood III and Joe Kelliher, former FERC Chairmen, spoke to the circumstances in

    Texas

  • AEUB Chairman Neil McCrank and former AESO President Dale McMaster joined the panel to discuss the Alberta implications.

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