[ad_1]
States across the West are at risk of electricity shortages this summer as severe drought reduces the amount of water available for hydropower generation.
Some of the region’s largest reservoirs lie at historically low levels after a dry winter and spring reduced the amount of snow masses and precipitation feeding rivers and streams. Conditions are particularly harsh in drought-stricken California, where officials say the reservoir system experienced an unprecedented loss of runoff this spring — 800,000 acres, or enough to supply more than 1 million households for a year.
The agency said the California Department of Water Resources operates eight major hydropower facilities that this year are now expected to be about 30% of their 10-year average generation. Hydropower, some of which was imported from other states, made up about 16% of California’s generation mix in 2019, according to state data. California needs all the electricity it can get when temperatures rise: The margin of error is slim when it comes to balancing supply and demand, so any drop in generation capacity can pose major challenges.
Meanwhile, streamflow forecasts for Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are among the five most drought-prone forecasts on record, according to an update by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this month.
Lake Powell on the Colorado River is expected to get only 25% of the water it normally gets between April and July, according to the agency. Lake Powell is the main reservoir that feeds Lake Nevada, where the Hoover Dam is located. The dam is one of the largest hydroelectric facilities in the country, capable of producing enough power to serve about 1.3 million people. About 23% of its production serves Nevada, and 19% serves Arizona. Most of the rest serves southern California.
Share your thoughts
Were you affected by the power outage this year? If so, how? Join the conversation below.
The current generation capacity of the Hoover Dam is 1,567 megawatts, down 25% from its peak of 2,074 megawatts, Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Patty Aaron said.
Already, power grids across the West and South are under pressure this week amid a heat wave that has increased demand for electricity, the first of several expected this summer. Network operators in both Texas and California have called on people to conserve energy by reducing reliance on air conditioning, among other things, to avoid the need for blackouts to bring demand in line with supply.
The West is experiencing one of the most severe droughts on record, with California among many places that get less than half of the average rainfall. Hydrologists say the mostly dry years over the past decade — fueled in part by climate change — have left so little moisture in the ground that it absorbs much of the runoff normally reserved for reservoirs.
Water levels in Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, have fallen to 41% of its capacity. Photo: Noah Berger/Associated Press
Soil is like a sponge that absorbs water and stores it for plants,” said Shafiq Khan, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Merced. “If you don’t get enough water, the storage will be depleted and next year first [new runoff] You’ll fill up those sponges.”
The California Autonomous System operator, or Caiso, which oversees the state’s power grid, resorted last summer to blackouts during a heatwave that swept the West that limited the state’s ability to import electricity. The supply crunch was most acute in the evening, after solar production fell.
North American Electric Reliability Corp., a nonprofit organization overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, warned in a report last month that grid stability across the West is a “major concern for the summer,” with supply and demand forecasts at levels similar to 2020.
Caiso last month issued a similar warning that “a second year of much lower-than-normal hydropower conditions and increased potential for severe weather events” could exacerbate electricity shortages throughout the summer. Reservoir levels have since fallen further, and state agencies are studying the impact of the drop.
Elliot Mainzer, CEO of the grid operator, said he’s monitoring reservoir levels, particularly at the state’s largest hydroelectric facility, the 750-megawatt Edward Hyatt plant in Lake Oroville. Lake Northern California is down to 35% of capacity, officials said, putting the plant at risk of losing its power production capacity by August or September for the first time in its 60-year history.
In northern California, water levels in Lake Oroville are so low that by late summer a major hydroelectric power plant may not be able to generate power. Photo: Noah Berger/The Associated Press
“We have to monitor that very carefully here, between now and August, to see if the reservoir levels drop enough that we see a significant reduction in generation,” Mainzer said.
The five main generators in Shasta Lake — California’s largest reservoir, which is down to 41 percent of capacity — are operating at 70 percent of normal, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.
PG&E Corp. , an electric and gas company that serves about 16 million customers in Northern California and operates one of the state’s largest hydroelectric networks, is cutting back its water use this spring to keep reservoir levels higher in anticipation of a hot summer. PG&E says it is ready to rely more on other forms of generation, including wind, solar and gas plants.
“Knowing that we will have less water available this year, we will be using our hydro power during periods of peak demand,” said spokesman Paul Moreno.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Bonneville Energy Administration, a federal agency that sells power from 31 hydroelectric projects, as well as several other power plants, has seen water levels drop to 85% of the average across the system. Spokesman Doug Johnson said the downturn is manageable, but could limit the agency’s ability to export energy outside the region, including to California, if a severe heat wave boosts energy demand across the West.
He said, “We hope that everyone who depends on us for surplus energy through the western connection takes into account the amount of water we have.”
Write to Katherine Blunt at [email protected] and Jim Carlton at [email protected]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. all rights are save. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
.
[ad_2]
Picture Credit!