Vancouver: B.C. Hydro said it set a new record for the highest peak hourly demand in August on Monday night.
It comes as a heat wave sweeping across the southern half of B.C. also sets records, including 37.5 Celsius in Port Alberni, breaking a benchmark set in 1933 and 30.6 Celsius at Yoho National Park, surpassing a mark set in 1930.
BC Hydro says in a statement that consumption reached over 8,400 megawatts, with a heatwave usually adding 1,000 megawatts of power use, equal to turning on one million air-conditioning units.
While demand is higher during the heatwave, B.C. Hydro says there’s no problem in meeting the additional demand because that’s about three-quarters of what a peak load would be during the winter. — Canadian Press