There’s a real disconnect in anglosphere discourse because a lot of it centres in the US where people aren’t seeing Chinese EVs at all, while much of the rest of the world is

#influencer

Wow, it’s windy today in Edmonton (~8 bft). There are four EPCOR outages right now and I’m sure their electricians are on the job – a reminder of what distribution fees on our electricity bills pay for! #YEGwx

Staying yellow but being “infused with shades of green" makes me think of … moldy butter 🦠🧈

www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?...

🌦️Looking forward to joining @solaralberta.ca's Solar Show next week! Though, unfortunately, it's not all clear skies in Alberta.

Airgram from windy.com ECMWF forecast model showing a temperature inversion this morning in Edmonton near surface level.

Air quality was kinda poor this morning. Did anyone else smell smoke?

I think it was due to a temperature inversion we had overnight. All the more reason to support public transit and mode shift!!! #YEGwx

Pictured: windy.com ECMWF airgram forecasted a temperature inversion this morning.

This gives Dune 🪱

Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China's Wind and Solar Buildout

The scale of China's clean energy buildout is difficult to fathom. Check out these pictures.

Per bsky.app/profile/maxf... they also have to cost $33K or less, which is a market segment that NA automakers are currently serving very poorly. So if they sell well, that's a clear signal: provide product or be replaced.

a man with ice on his face says i 'm fine , everything is fine ALT: a man with ice on his face says i 'm fine , everything is fine

Even in the winter :)

Don't get me wrong – the Silverado looks like a great option for many folks! I've heard great reviews from people who tow trailers with it through the Canadian Rockies national parks, where charging options are relatively limited.

The default setting of this list is trip ratio (% driving vs. % charging), which is almost the same as total trip time. For most drivers, that matters more than range. Your mileage may vary!

e.g. the Silverado takes 30 minutes more to complete this hypothetical 600 mi journey than the top option.

This list does show multiple trims of the same models, so this is not to say that the Chevy Silverado comes in at #128. Furthermore, much of the top performers are in alpha status, meaning there is limited data on real-world performance.

But still!

I learned about a great EV range and charging time comparison tool this week. The top three performers are from Chinese brands and the #2 sells for just ~24k CAD in China.

The first option from an American big three automaker comes in at #128.

abetterrouteplanner.com/compare/cars/

EVs running on Alberta and Saskatchewan’s grids are still more GHG and energy efficient than combustion cars.

My holiday wish is that the government makes real progress on fixing the issues Joe describes here

Oof – it's been looking bad for flu in Alberta this year. Test positivity rates are high! Best to listen to Dr. Vipond's advice below.

💨 The wind came back in Alberta on Saturday morning and has been providing 25-35% of our grid electricity since, putting electricity prices below 2¢/kWh since.

There's another cold snap coming, but for now, it's not looking to be as severe as last week's.

How Alberta can avoid another grid alert The January 2024 electricity grid alert highlighted the need for a range of improvements in Alberta. The government knows many of the solutions - but they need to start acting on them rather than mudd...

We've done quite a bit of thinking on this, but here's a throwback to an op-ed my director Scott MacDougall and I wrote in January 2024 about how we can avoid grid alerts www.pembina.org/op-ed/how-al...

🌐 That's what we see the rest of the world starting to do too. If you're interested in our work, please feel to reach out and consider supporting us too! We are a charitable organization proudly working in the public interest.

P.S. Fun fact – it's colder in Edmonton than in Iqaluit!

.@pembina.org, we see the most cost-effective way to plan a grid is one where we make the most of low-cost renewable energy, expand flexibility through 🔋 batteries, 🏗️ interties, and 🏠 demand side resources, and strategically use our emitting gas fleet to fill in the gaps.

This is the exact kind of balancing that the system operator does every hour, every day, every year 🎛️ Winter is just beginning this year and we'll likely be back in a similar situation soon. Alberta needs more flexibility in its system especially with growing demand for electricity.

💨 Looking ahead, the wind should pick back up by Saturday morning and put Alberta back in a position of exporting electricity.

💆‍♂️ Prices were stable throughout this period and none of our battery units were activated, though they were ready. Thanks, interties!

⚖️ As the wind stilled this morning, gas units ramped up 🏭 and Alberta called upon our small connections to B.C., SK, and Montana for support. Through much of the last two days wind was providing 20-30% of our hourly generation in the daytime, so Alberta was actually exporting to our neighbours.

😌 It's Friday now and it seems like we're through the coldest part of this snap. The folks at Alberta's electricity system operator have done a great job keeping the lights on 📊 Looking at the data on ets.aeso.ca and on @electricitymaps.com, 3 things stand out to me:

Alberta is facing days of extreme cold. 🥶❄️ Can the grid keep up? Electricity expert @jasonrwang.bsky.social breaks it down.

🎥 Watch a clip ➡️ buff.ly/rdCDPrI

🎧 Listen to the whole interview ➡️ ️https://buff.ly/DlOKr2a

To improve the grid, Alberta could:
1️⃣Expand our intertie capacity to B.C. (and other neighbours like Saskatchewan)
2️⃣ Implement demand side resources!!

🌍🌏📅 These are steps that many other place have proven will work and improve the reliability and affordability of electricity year-round.

TL;DR – the AESO's current outlook is that they've got it covered w/ Friday expected to be the toughest. Usually in cold snaps, we see ⬇️ flexibility in AB that is vulnerable to sudden, unexpected outages that are more likely to occur, notably in Jan. 2024 with two gas plants.

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.

🥶 Brrr, the polar vortex is coming for Alberta and that's got me worried for avalanche stability (deep persistents, anyone? ⛷) ⚡As for the electricity grid? 🎙️I was on CBC Edmonton AM this morning to talk about it!

📻 You can hear the whole clip here:
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...