Hours after the operators of the province’s power grid warned that new federal electricity regulations could lead to blackouts, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government is preparing for the possibility of enacting her signature legislation in an effort to push back against Ottawa’s planned emissions reductions.

“We’re preparing a Sovereignty Act motion, and I’m hoping we don’t have to use it. That’s why we’re at the table having these negotiations,” Smith said, referring to a recently formed Alberta-Ottawa working group focused on emissions reductions.

“But we are going to defend our constitutional jurisdiction to make sure that we develop our oil and gas industry at our own pace, and that we develop our electricity system so that it achieves the goal of reliability and affordability.”

When asked at what point she would potentially invoke the act, Smith said she has continually said she would do so if Ottawa “comes through with emissions caps that are unconstitutional.”

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    Hours after the operators of the province’s power grid warned that new federal electricity regulations could lead to blackouts, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government is preparing for the possibility of enacting her signature legislation in an effort to push back against Ottawa’s planned emissions reductions.

    Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, which was passed late last year, has a stated purpose to direct provincial agencies to ignore federal laws deemed unconstitutional, though there has long been contention around how it would work in practice.

    “Regardless of how much intermittent wind and solar Alberta has, the provincial grid will need sufficient dispatchable generation to meet the cold, dark, windless winter nights that we have in this province and form our peak load conditions,” he said.

    Blake Shaffer, a University of Calgary economist who specializes in electricity markets, says it’s difficult to comment on the assessment released by AESO on Thursday, as the details of their modelling work and the assumptions that go into it haven’t been provided.

    The Pembina Institute, a renewable energy think tank, also called for AESO to release its modelling on Thursday, writing in a statement that the operator’s conclusion that the CER would lead to a reliability risk in 2035 was “a big claim to be issued in a two-page report.”

    “We ask AESO to release the full analysis that supports this claim, including its assumptions for growth in renewable energy, storage, transmission interties and natural gas with carbon capture,” wrote Jason Wang, senior analyst with the Pembina Institute.


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