Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro officials are warning that rotating power outages are possible because there may not be enough electricity to meet demand.
“There is a risk of a power emergency this weekend,” said Hydro’s vice-president of engineering and Newfoundland and Labrador system operator Rob Collett.
The reason? For the first time since 1967, the Bay d’Espoir plant is completely shut down. It’s the largest generating plant on the island.
If there are outages, power will be shut down in one neighbourhood or community at a time, but advance notice isn’t possible, said Byron Chubbs, vice-president of engineering and energy supply with Newfoundland Power.
The timeline for the rotating outages would be approximately 60 minutes or less, said Chubbs.
“Everyone will take a turn to be without power so that the electricity continues to flow for the island,” said Chubbs.
It’s unknown right now if the power grid will actually reach an emergency, but officials are focusing their attention on Saturday evening.
“Our expectation is that the tightest pinch on the system will start this evening,” Collett said. “This is the coldest part of the cold snap.”
He said the utilities are hopeful that an emergency won’t happen, but they’re asking customers to prepare by checking generators, charging phones and having flashlights on hand.
Byron Chubbs, vice-president of engineering and energy supply with Newfoundland Power, says rotating power outages could last 60 minutes or less. (CBC)
Collett said he understands that some people will immediately think of DarkNL.
The January 2014 event saw tens of thousands of customers in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador without electricity for days, amid frigid temperatures. It exposed vulnerabilities in the province’s electrical infrastructure.
“That is absolutely not the circumstance,” he said.
DarkNL, Collett said, saw the system collapse and the network had to be restored piece-by-piece.
Frazil ice causing big problems
On Friday, Hydro issued a power warning because the electricity supply was getting close to maximum capacity due to high power demand and ongoing frazil ice issues at the Bay d’Espoir plant.
Frazil ice forms in supercooled water, or water that remains liquid in below freezing temperatures. It consists of small ice crystals suspended in the water that can build up and block water intakes, which can impact water supply facilities like hydropower plants.
Frazil ice issues at the Bay d’Espoir Hydro Electricity Facility has caused a power warning across the island of Newfoundland. (Submitted by N.L. Hydro)
Collett likens the mixture to slushie drinks you can buy from those big machines at gas stations or convenience stores.
“The ice gets stuck in your straw,” he said, explaining what happened at the Bay d’Espoir plant.
“We could not have foreseen this happening at Bay d’Espoir.”
Bay d’Espoir’s reservoir, which is a standing body of water, generally has an ice cover, said Collett, but changes in the climate have made temperatures swing quickly from warm to cold, meaning that expected ice cover doesn’t exist right now.
“This sudden snap of cold weather, you know, and severe winds, stirred up this reservoir into a kind of a churn of slush,” he said.
WATCH | Advance warning of when your house could lose power isn’t possible:
If rolling outages are implemented, here’s what to expect
There are a lot of unknowns if the energy supply gets to the point that customers have to take a turn at being in the dark. Byron Chubbs, vice-president of energy supply at Newfoundland Power, breaks it down.
A team, including divers with special equipment, is working to remove the ice at the Bay d’Espoir plant, the company wrote Friday night.
Getting more energy for the grid
Collett said N.L. Hydro is doing everything it can to secure more power for island.
He said Muskrat Falls is sending as much power as possible to ensure stability of the system.
“Thank goodness for Muskrat Falls this weekend,” Collett said.
“We can withstand 1,400 megawatts of supply on the island right now. About 700 of that comes from Muskrat Falls. So almost half of the capacity that we are enjoying — and is keeping our supply together — is coming from Muskrat Falls.”
Work is also ongoing to secure imported electricity from Nova Scotia through the Maritime Link.
N.L. Hydro has a team of divers working to remove ice at the Bay d’Espoir facility. (Submitted by N.L. Hydro)
“Normally we’re an exporter of electricity, and in circumstances like this we can actually import energy from Nova Scotia,” Collett said.
Hydro teams have also been looking for energy from New England, Quebec and booking what’s called transmission reservations.
While they provide some help, it’s not a perfect solution, said Collett.
“We can only count on them for a few hours. We have to keep checking in to see if they are still available because those transmission lines can become congested, those sources could trip off, for example,” he said.
Meanwhile, repairs are being expedited at the Holyrood generating plant, where only one of its three generators are online right now.
“Our crews are working their hearts out to get them back,” Collett said, adding he hopes that warmer temperatures later in the week will reduce risk of a power emergency.
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