SaskPower exporting power to U.S. isn’t new, but amount reaches near max

While exporting electricity isn’t new for SaskPower, it has taken things to another level.

The crown corporation is currently exporting 175 megawatts to the Southwest Power Pool, which is diverting the power to help the residents of Texas and other southern states. Snowstorms and freezing temperatures there have left millions of people without power.

“We certainly want to help out our neighbours when we can. If the situation was reversed and we’re having grid instability or if we’re struggling to meet load, we would do the same and import power,” said Joel Cherry, a SaskPower spokesperson. “It’s not unheard of or uncommon that we export power. In this case, this is close to the most we’re actually capable of exporting. That’s because the need there’s so great.”

Cherry said there is a market price for the power but it continually shifts based on demand, so he couldn’t provide an exact amount on how much SaskPower would be receiving from this exporting process.

Exporting power isn’t something new for SaskPower, with the crown corporation exporting to other provinces quite regularly. Cherry said prior to exporting power to the U.S., SaskPower had been exporting power to Alberta.

He also said customers in Saskatchewan don’t have to worry about losing any services because of this.

“Our first priority is making sure our grid is stable and that we can supply reliable power for all of our customers. Once we’re confident we can do that, we’re trying to export as much as we can on top of that,” Cherry said. “For customers here they’re not going to see a difference in the reliability of power. If we ever got into a situation where there was any risk of failing to meet the demands for power in Saskatchewan, we wouldn’t be exporting that power.

Saskatchewan is used to frigid temperatures and winter storms, so Cherry said SaskPower’s infrastructure is designed with that in mind.

“We heat our homes primarily with natural gas so we don’t have electric heat causing a sudden increase in electricity. Our houses are better insulated and our facilities are just built to withstand the cold better than they are where you don’t expect this kind of cold,” Cherry said.

SaskPower also gets its power from a wide variety of sources, including coal, wind and solar. Cherry said the wind turbines are able to run up until the temperature hits -30 with no wind chill.

Saskatchewan also has the most power lines per kilometre per capita than anywhere in North America.

In order to keep everything up and running, Cherry said they are constantly looking at where repairs and upgrades are needed.

“We have a lot of stuff that’s out there from the 1950s and 60s and some of it is coming due for being replaced. Through our regular business, each year we’re inspecting our infrastructure to see if it’s performing as it’s supposed to and it’s not at risk of failure,” Cherry said.