Electricity Statistics

Electricity Supply
An important objective of electricity restructuring has been the development of a competitive generation market. Access for all power producers to Alberta's interconnected transmission grid is integral to the success of electricity generation.

Alberta's restructured electricity industry has encouraged efficiencies and allowed new generation supply to come on-line to keep pace with one of the fastest growing economies in North America.

Alberta has seen new generation capacity additions of over 7,300 megawatts (MW) since 1998.

Over 7,100 MW of thermal power, and over 3,800 MW of renewable power, have been proposed by industry for future development.

At present, Alberta has 13,849 MW of installed generating capacity.  Peak demand in 2011 (climatic year) was an all-time high 10,609 MW – up 383 MW from 10,226 in 2010.

 

Alberta's Installed Generation and Interconnections Capacity

As of November 2012

Generating Capacity

Megawatt (MW)

    Coal

5,679

    Gas

5,664

    Hydro

900

    Wind

1,123

    Biomass

409

    Waste Heat* 

62

    Fuel Oil

12

    Subtotal

13,849

Interconnections Capacity



    British Columbia

750

    Saskatchewan

150

    Subtotal

900

Grand Total

14,749

Source:  The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) and the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO).

*Waste heat generation is a system that produces electricity from a heat source that is a by-product of an existing industrial process, the heat that would have been otherwise wasted.

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Alberta's Electrcity Generation - 2011

Generation

Gigawatt hour (GWh)**

    Coal

38,859

    Natural Gas

25,078

    Hydro

2,036

    Wind

2,419

    Biomass

1,972

    Other

321

    Total

70,685

Source: AUC

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Generation Additions Since 1998

Please click here for a complete list of all Generation Additions Since 1998.

Source:  Based on ERCB, AUC, AESO and industry information.

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Proposed Generation

 As of November 2012

Type

Number of Projects

Total Capacity (MW)

Renewables

  35

  3,855

Thermal and Other

  40

  7,188

Total

  75

11,042

Source:  AESO
Proposed Generation Includes:  Projects under Active Construction; Projects with Regulatory Approval; Projects that have been announced, Applied for AESO Interconnection and/or applied for Regulatory Approval; and Projects that have been deferred.

For a complete listing of Proposed Generation projects visit AESO's website at:

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Generation Decommissions Since 1998

Developer 

Unit 

Capacity Removed
(MW)
 

Type

Decommissioning
Date

ATCO Power 

Battle River 1, 2

     56 

Coal 

 1998
TransAlta Wabamun 3

   140 

Coal 

 2003
TransAlta

Wabamun 1, 2 

   128 

Coal 

 2005
EPCOR

Clover Bar 

   629 

Natural Gas 

 2005
Mercury Electric Corp.  Alberta         8

Natural Gas 

 2005

EPCOR 

Rossdale 8, 9, 10

   203

Natural Gas

 2009
City of Medicine Hat Units 5, 8      37

Natural Gas

 2009
TransAlta Wabamun 4    279 Coal  2010
Weyerhaeuser Canada Grande Prairie
Pulp Mill
     33 Biomass  2011

Total Decommissioned
Generation

1,513
Source:  ERCB

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Imports / Exports

      2007 2008  2009  2010  2011

Exports volume (MWh) 

    973,217

     558,759 

     513,162

   459,381 118,858

Exports value ($ million) 

      $37.10        $25.38        $14.21      $12.82 $5.26

Imports volume (MWh)

 1,467,221   2,248,118   2,018,607 2,204,839 3,591,487

Imports value ($ million) 

    $147.40      $266.00      $124.17    $144.81 $315.61
Source:  AESO

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Operations

 

2007 

2008 

2009 

2010

2011

Peak Demand* (MW) 

   9,710     9,806    10,236

10,226

10,609

Average Pool Price ($/MWh)**

    66.95     89.95      47.81

50.88

76.22

 Maximum Pool Price ($/MWh)     1,000     1,000      1,000

   1,000 

1,000

 Minimum Pool Price ($/MWh)       0            0        0.10

       0

0

 Total Energy (GWh)**   69,661    69,947    69,914

 71,723

73,600

Number of Power Pool Participants

209

       213         210

       164

164

Source:  AESO

*Peak demand is based on the climatic year (October to September).
**A gigawatt hour (GWh) is equal to 1,000 megawatt hours (MWh) and one MWh is equal to 1,000 kilowatt hours (KWh).  For context the average household in Alberta consumes 7,200 kWh (0.7 MWh) of electricity per year,

AESO also offers real time pricing reports.external link icon  

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Customer Usage Estimates

Number of Customers

                    Usage (GwH)

 

2010

 2011

2007 

 2008

2009

2010

2011 

Residential

 1,305,451

  1,323,804

    8,558

    8,833

  9,090

  9,071

 9,333

Farm 

    82,505

       82,752

    1,806

    1,803

  1,900

  1,708

 1,828

Commercial

     163,722

    165,731

  13,134

  13,526

13,534

13,748

 14,207

Industrial 

     36,646

      37,027

  28,340

  27,878

26,803

27,076

 27,294

Total*

 1,588,324

  1,609,314

  51,838

  52,041

51,328

51,603

 52,662

* Total may not add due to rounding.  
Source:  ERCB
Does not include line losses and electricity generated on-site for on-site use.

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