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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Alberta electricity prices spike to $450 / MWh at 8 PM last night. Spike occurred just as solar was winding down. Alberta briefly imported power before rising wind generation, and falling demand eased prices overnight.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Was great to speak with Markham from @energimedia.bsky.social today. Geothermal can play an key role meeting Canada's growing electricity demand, right-sizing the challenge grids face, and creating a new stream of high-tech exports as Canada diversifies its economy. Link below in the comments

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Electricity prices spiked as demand rises and wind falls off, and gas steps in to fill the void.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Massive surge in wind power is driving extended zero and near-zero prices in Alberta over the past 24 hours - and massive exports to BC.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Weekly report on Alberta's electricity is now up. Last week saw renewables perform at peak times, putting downward pressure on prices despite steady demand. Link below

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

In Alberta, wind power production surged last night at 9 PM. As a result, prices fell significantly as simple cycle production fell off and exports to SK surged.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Fervo has generated first power. Phase 1 of the Cape Station project will produce 100 MW across three GeoBlock turbines. Today, Fervo announced that the first Geoblock is now producing power. The other two are expected to reach contractual operation by Jan 1, 2027

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Alberta power prices rising early in the day. Somewhat unusual as prices tend to rise in the afternoon. Will be interesting to watch through the day - as price currently forecast to reach $250

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Prices briefly spiked to $730 / MWh last night, as solar production fell and simple cycle (and some biomass!) production ramped up to meet demand.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

After briefly becoming a net importer, Alberta has resumed net exports of electricity

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Over the past 24 hours, we've seen gas ramp up to meet demand as wind and solar production evaporates. We've also seen prices rise from an average of ~$20/MWh over the past week to $52/MWh over the past 24 hours. We've also seen a transition towards net imports

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Modest levels of volatility are returning to Alberta's power market after prices hit a ceiling of ~$60 / MWh last week.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I'm launching a weekly report on Alberta's electricity market. As a competitive market in cold climate - it provides the perfect case study to explore how power systems are growing and changing. Read the first report here: petermassie.substack.com/p/weekly-rep...

petermassie.substack.com

Weekly Report - Alberta’s Electricity Market

September 5 - September 12, 2026

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The US DOE has launched a geothermal prize to identify undiscovered geothermal resources. $300K is available to competitors who can develop algorithms to predict and model subsurface conditions. Great example of how prizes should be used www.energy.gov/hgeo/geother...

energy.gov

Office of Geothermal Announces Geologic Enhanced Mapping System (GEMS) Prize

The $300,000 prize will help locate hidden geothermal systems.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Wind played an outsized role in Alberta's power system following the long weekend. That combination could be suppressing power prices. Highest price over the past week was just $65 / MWh, with an average price of $19, and considerable number of hours with a price of $0.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Wind currently meeting nearly 40% of Alberta's electricity demand. Over the past seven days, we've seen good alignment between wind generation and high demand - with wind generating at ~50% of total capacity. Expect to see an elevated role for wind through the Fall.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Electricity demand in Alberta was muted over the weekend - and fairly soft yesterday for the holiday Monday. But it's important to keep in mind just how flat the province's demand profile is given large share of industrial load.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

AESO has published its monthly update to the Connection Project List - an overview of what's around the corner in the province's power grid. Unsurprisingly, new load under review is overwhelmingly driven by data centres. TLDR: we're going to need more clean firm power. Check out the link below

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Simple cycle gas plants look like a small share of generation - they're easy to overlook. But they play a key role balancing grids. These two plants are the same size (~100 MW). And while they behave very differently, both provide much needed flexibility to the power system.

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Reposted by Pete Massie

Eyab Alaini 🇨🇦 @eyab.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

leger poll shows nearly 1 in 4 Albertans have either not followed the Alberta Sovereignty and Separation Discussions closely or not at all. 48% are less motivated because they think their side can win. This is not about changing minds, it is a question of who will show up. Get your mail ballot

leger360.com

Alberta Referendum: Undecided Share Rises Significantly Alberta Referendum Poll: Undecided Share Rises to 10%

Leger’s August 2026 Alberta referendum poll finds 65% favour remaining a province of Canada, while the undecided share rises significantly to 10%.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Everybody's working for the weekend: Grid demand in Alberta noticeably lower over the weekend. Will be interesting to see how this trend extends into Labour Day next Monday.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Electricity trade between Alberta and neighboring grids over the past week

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

LOAD GROWTH ***CAN*** DRIVE DOWN RATES

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Wind production in Alberta has been strong this week - but it's struggling to capture value. On average, wind captures ~50% of the average wholesale price. As more wind comes online, it drives down the market price. Good for ratepayers, but a challenge for the market.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Electricity is affordable *most* of the time. If we want to maintain affordability - we need to think about meeting demand in peak hours. Over the past week in Alberta, the most expensive 25% of hours were ~6X the next quartile, and ~9X the bottom quartile.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Real volatility overnight in Alberta's electricity market, as prices skyrocketed from around $0 before 9 PM to near the offer cap at midnight.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It’s a windy start to the week in Alberta, with wind providing 30% of the provinces electricity as of 7:30 AM. Most of the province’s largest facilities are at or near capacity.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

What share of renewable capacity is available when it's needed most? That depends on the renewable. Solar performed well over the past week. Wind, less so. But it also depends on the season. Will be interesting to see how these patterns change as temperatures fall.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Addressing Canada's emissions from gas-fired power is tricky. Particularly in Alberta - the majority of gas-fired electricity is from cogeneration at industrial facilities that burn gas for mostly for heat. How do you mitigate emissions from power that's basically a byproduct?

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Reposted by Pete Massie

John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

30% eff. with 1% annual output degradation hitting the market. Amazing times. Will still be 21% at the end of life, competitive with the rest of market at beginning of life. 220MW farms become 300MW farms. Steel, land, and O&M costs per MW go down, LCOE goes down.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

At any given moment, gas-fired power makes up the vast majority of Alberta's electricity generation. But there's a lot going on beneath the surface - "gas" includes a range different technologies and business models: combined cycle, simple cycle, cogeneration, and gas-fired steam.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Starting to think Ontario's Premium shouldn't have been so quick to threaten cutting off the juice. Tx is the one of the investments you can make in the grid. But hard to blame a government from backing off when the partner threatens to weaponize it before it's finished.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Market signals can drive behaviour, but volatility is a big issue in electricity. People like stable prices. Even small changes in the price of gas elicit huge emotional responses. But electricity can 10X in a minute - just look at Alberta. It's hard for people to understand why.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Couldn't make the launch of the Deep Geothermal Roadmap? Check out what was said at the Kick Off workshop in the latest report from the Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition. Link below

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Value capture for renewables is a real issue. But timing of price spikes - as solar generation fades - suggests solar is creating value, even if it's difficult to capture.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Alberta's solar fleet nearing max capacity as demand ramps up mid-day

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Reposted by Pete Massie

RTO Insider @rtoinsider.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

AESO plans to revise its long-term supply adequacy metrics to better reflect renewable generation, energy storage capabilities, total load and demand patterns. #energysky 🔌💡 ow.ly/Jyzn50Zv1b6

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

People often think about hydro as baseload - and that can be true. But hydro's role is more complex. If we look at Alberta's largest hydro facility - we see output can double over the course of a week. So it's providing ~120 MW of power, and up to another 100 MW at peak.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

If anywhere is going to figure out how to manage the cost of data centres - it's going to be Alberta. 40%+ of demand is already met with cogen from large industrial plants.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Wholesale electricity prices in Alberta over the past 24 hours are a great example of how market signals could drive storage deployment. Low almost all day, and shooting up ~ 10X for an hour. Incredible arbitrage opportunity for V2G or basement batteries.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Oil prices are up ~50% in a month. That's good for exporters like Canada, but tougher for Canadians. In today's Globe and Mail, I argue next-gen geothermal could produce more electricity at home so we can export more energy at global prices. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

theglobeandmail.com

Opinion: How Canada can help allies with the Iran oil shock: The answer may surprise you

Investing in geothermal energy could have a domino effect

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

It's out! New CER Energy Futures report looks at four scenarios to explore a range of possible futures for Canada's energy sector. TLDR: We need moar electricity. www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-anal...

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Wind turbines didn't always look like they do now. Engineers tried everything, but only one design could win. And the industry consolidated around it to drive down costs. That's the home court advantage. What does that mean for emerging tech? petermassie.substack.com/p/the-home-c...

petermassie.substack.com

The Home Court Advantage

Assessing airborne wind energy - Part 3

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

You can't control the sun! About 20% of oil and LNG trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz. We're seeing the consequences of that today. But over 75% of key phases across the solar supply chain are in one country (guess which one). So no, you can't control the sun. But you don't need to.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The IEA Geothermal TCP released a new report, and there's a few points I think deserve attention. First - excitement around drilling isn't contingent on a silver bullet. There's a broad portfolio of solutions emerging - from incremental to radical.

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Why do new technologies look chaotic? Because we don't know what works. So engineers must explore the entire design space. That variety makes it hard to generalize about emerging technologies. Airborne wind energy is a perfect example. New piece: petermassie.substack.com/p/why-new-te...

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Pete Massie @petemassie.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Next-gen geothermal might be cheaper than you think. Independent modelling based on Fervo suggests capex is just US$5600/kW, with LCOE of US$85/MWh. That's present costs, not projected. Massive implications for the future of energy. softwareengineerprogrammer.github.io/GEOPHIRES/Fe...

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