iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/08/2026

Unreliable solar power:

Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 15/07/2026

Thinking of all the folks out east today – air quality in Thunder Bay, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and southern Ontario (especially K-W) are horrendous right now. PM2.5 sensors reading well over 200 μg/m3 in most places and even over 650 in a couple of spots. 😷

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 14/07/2026

📱 I’m impressed so far by the City of Edmonton’s new 311 app for iOS! It’s slick and simple to use. And there was no need to download a new app – updating was enough. Well done to everyone involved! 👏

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 07/07/2026

☀️ Great to see plug-in solar gaining momentum in Canada with Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz's motion to find pathways to make it possible!

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 22/06/2026

And I see many more mm's to come next weekend (ECMWF via windy.com)!

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 08/03/2026

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

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 19/01/2026

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.

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

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/01/2026

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/

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/01/2026

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

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/12/2025

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.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 15/12/2025

💨 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.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/12/2025

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

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/12/2025

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

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/12/2025

⚖️ 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.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/12/2025

😌 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:

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 09/12/2025

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.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 29/10/2025

🦉 Interesting today that Alberta Parl. Sec. de Jonge's mandate letter has a change in tone from Minister Neudorf's letter. Instead of "how nuclear energy can" fit into Alberta's energy mix," there's "if and how nuclear energy may". 🦅

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 24/10/2025

Here’s a breakdown of the total with other key sectors.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 24/10/2025

The former holds ~2% growth y-o-y while the latter's boom-bust rollercoaster is obvious. 🎢

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 24/10/2025

I took a quick, lazy look at total Canadian jobs vs. mining, quarrying, and oil and gas jobs between 1997 and 2024 based on StatCan data. To be honest, I'm a little surprised – there's been tremendous net growth in other sectors. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/t...

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 03/09/2025

Air quality in Jasper and Squamish are horrendous right now. And in Vancouver, Yellowknife, Alberta, and more. Take care, folks. And a loved one or neighbour too, if you can.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 28/07/2025

UPDATE: it's the lowest since June 2021 – a whole four years ago. AESO removed links to project queues from before January 2023 so I needed to dig into my archives to find the older data.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 28/07/2025

As of last Friday, Alberta's renewable energy development queue hit the lowest it has been since at least February 2023. For more on the downward trend, the spikes, and ways to grow development interest again, see: www.pembina.org/pub/down-not...

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/06/2025

We’re mostly good now! Still above the WHO recommended 24 hr avg figure of 15 μg/m3 though. #YEGwx

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 11/06/2025

The smoke and air quality warning in Alberta is getting to a lot of us. I hope you all take a moment to check in with a friend, family member, a neighbour. We need community to mitigate and adapt together. It does seem like cleaner air is coming to Edmonton from Ft. McMurray though.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 04/06/2025

Reminder to anyone looking at today's Alberta oil sands emission intensity report: emissions intensity has barely budged since 2014.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 26/05/2025

Looks like the prairies and the NWT are going to be the hottest places in Canada this week with highs above 30ºC. I hope the rain on Thursday doesn't come with too much thunder – seems bad for fire risk. (I use ICON and MBLUE forecasts on windy.com) #YEGwx

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 02/04/2025

Low-carbon hydrogen is important for decarbonization, but it should be deployed where it can make the most impact – industrial decarbonization, not light duty vehicles or home heating. I always recommend folks look at the Hydrogen Ladder: www.linkedin.com/pulse/hydrog...

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 01/03/2025

Outside of clean electricity, I spend a lot of time climbing. So stoked to see the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in Edmonton this weekend. Today’s semi-finals and finals are being live streamed if you want to tune in! www.youtube.com/live/sz1JsMh...

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/01/2025

Alberta's "snow squall" is also bringing high forecasts for wind and solar generation! We've been nearing 5 GW in maximum wind and solar output for a few months but I doubt we'll crest today.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 19/12/2024

I’m in Revelstoke this week – a town once centred around the train. It’d be SO COOL to have this place connected to rail again for all the tourism it’s attracting. And to save on the dangerous Highway 1 driving.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/12/2024

Thanks to the City of Edmonton snow clearers out tonight!

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 07/12/2024

It looks like almost all existing coal leases are in the finalized no-go wind zones. Will they face visual impact requirements too? #PristineViewscapes #ABpoli

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 06/12/2024

❗️Alberta has just released its final rules for renewable energy restrictions on some types of agricultural land, "pristine viewscape" zones, and reclamation requirements. It has yet to make any progress on similar rules for the oil and gas – or any other – sector.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 23/11/2024

The double cyclones are spooky!

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/11/2024

Reminds me of a similar book (that I have on a bookshelf, similarly unread).

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 08/11/2024

Apropos nothing at all, here's how big Edmonton is compared to some of the world's major cities.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 24/10/2024

Thanks for the comment Doug. The blog doesn’t go into that level of detail, but circuit-sharing is one of the main takeaways from our project and we discuss it in the reports.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 12/08/2024

[Data alert!] @youralberta.bsky.social's EV registration data came out just a few days ago: 📈 EVs grew 52% last fiscal year & there were 14,189 EVs in the province as of March 31, 2024! 🔋 Source: open.alberta.ca/publications...

Line chart showing the growth of registered electric vehicles in Alberta growing around 50% per year to over 14,000 as of March 31, 2024.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 29/05/2024

😎 Spotted by my colleague Will, "Alberta's net-to-grid generation is currently around half renewables." ☀️💨⚡️ This might be one of the first times ever – as our system is at low demand and notable as coal phases out. Fuel-saving renewables delivering $0/MWh since 9:04!

Screenshot from the Alberta Electric System Operator's generation data dashboard showing wind, solar, and hydro power plants providing more than half of the current net-to-grid generation (i.e., not behind-the-fence industrial demand and generation).

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/04/2024

Canada is still in the top 3 of attracting foreign direct investments, but it lags behind the U.S., which had 6.3x as much. More here: budget.canada.ca/2024/report-...

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 16/04/2024

Not only does #Budget2024 have interesting announcements, it also has some interesting graphs. e.g., annual wages in clean electricity are $146k!

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 21/02/2024

I haven’t tuned in yet, but asking this question is like, “Can Calgary flush one million toilets at once?” 🚽

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 14/01/2024

Alberta's system operator identified the need to build storage 🔋 years ago and the government even passed a bill – but stopped short of proclaiming it. More storage will continue to be useful for days like today. Our outdated regulations are holding back lowest-cost solutions.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 23/11/2023

Luckily, they have even better solar energy potential than Alberta to build an affordable and reliable electricity system. They've identified some great things – efficiency, transmission, and storage. But they need to accelerate their building ASAP.

NRCan map of solar energy potential across Canada, showing that the Prairie provinces are especially well-suited for solar energy production. In particular, Saskatchewan has better solar resources than all other provinces.

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Jason R. Wang @jrwang.ca · 22/11/2023

I have the same issue on Safari. I guess it’s necessary to match a Green Paper with a Blue Webpage?

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