States across the West are at risk of electricity shortages because an extreme drought is crimping the amount of water used to generate hydropower, a dominant energy source in that part of the country.
About half of the total utility-scale hydroelectricity generation capacity in the United States is concentrated in Washington, California, and Oregon, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Hydroelectricity generation typically varies based on precipitation levels, but California is being especially challenged by extreme heat and dry weather.
California officials have said its reservoir system has seen an unprecedented loss of runoff this spring due to a reduced amount of snowpack and precipitation feeding rivers and streams, according to the Wall Street Journal. Water levels at Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, have fallen to 41% of capacity.
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The California Department of Water Resources operates eight major hydroelectric facilities that are forecast this year to be about 30% of their 10-year average generation, the agency said. California also imports hydropower from across the Pacific Northwest, but exports from other states are constrained because of low water levels.
PG&E, a California utility, cut its use of water for its hydropower network this spring in anticipation of a hot summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. The utility says it is prepared to rely more on other forms of generation, including wind, solar, and natural gas.
The California Independent System Operator, or CAISO, which oversees the state’s grid, asked customers on Friday to conserve energy for the second time in a week as the heat drives up demand for power.
CAISO was forced to resort to rolling power outages in August 2020 amid a severe heat wave. California’s top utility officials have already warned that extremely hot temperatures this year could put similar pressure on the state’s power grid.
Dan Reicher, a senior scholar at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, said the drought and extreme heat facing California, and wrecking havoc on hydropower, should remind policymakers of the importance of addressing climate change.
He said the challenges facing hydropower are not unique, noting that output from wind can decline in drought conditions. Output from solar, however, could increase during times of extreme heat.
“One of the things we know about climate change is that we will see impacts on our broad array of renewable resources — both negative and positive,” Reicher told the Washington Examiner.
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“This is just one example of what the rising impacts of climate change can do to our slate of renewable energy resources, and it means we will have to both be even more aggressive about addressing climate change and more sophisticated about managing our renewable resources,” he said.
