Wildfire Safety

System Capacity: The maximum power capability of a system. For example, a utility system might have a rated capacity of 5000 megawatts, or might sell 50 megawatts of capacity.
Equipment Capacity: The maximum power capability of piece of equipment. For example, a generating unit might have a rated capacity of 50 megawatts.

Fire Risk in Alberta

We identified Bow Valley, Cadomin, and Crowsnest Pass as high-risk fire areas within our service territory. To minimize wildfire risk, we are reinforcing our assets in these areas, which includes our 551L Transmission Line that runs through Banff National Park. You can learn more about our new safety measures and system enhancements here.

PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUT-OFF (PSPS) CRITERIA

We are establishing a new fire prevention measure called a Public Safety Power Shut-off (PSPS). This would mean proactively shutting off the power during extreme and dangerous weather conditions that can result in catastrophic wildfires. A PSPS would be a preventative last-resort measure.

The triggers for a PSPS would be if the Fire Weather Index (FWI) and wind speeds exceed a certain threshold. There have been no exceedances in the Bow Valley in the last 20 years that would have initiated a PSPS.

The thresholds for the communities in our service territory and the potentially affected areas can be seen below. You can click on the maps to make them larger.

Area	FWI	Wind speeds	Maps
Bow Valley	60	70 km/h
Cadomin	60	60 km/h
Crowsnest Pass	60	80 km/h