drought

Scientists who maintain the world’s temperature records, which date back to 1880, calculate a global temperature anomaly each year to determine how much temperatures have changed compared to temperatures from 1951 to 1980. In mid-January, they announced that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Furthermore, they said every month from June through December 2023 […]

A new 16-GW hydropower project in China and a 9-GW plant in Indonesia are among several projects being highlighted as part of Global Hydropower Day, being celebrated Oct. 11 as the hydro sector notes the importance of the technology to the world’s power generation. The Baihetan Hydropower Station in China is being developed by Jinsha […]

While hydropower provides about 16% of global electricity generation today, climate change is predicted to drive various changes in hydrology that could translate into a spectrum of risks for hydropower production. A recent study published in the journal Water estimates 61% of all global hydropower dams will be in basins with very high or extreme […]

Drought in California could nearly halve the state’s hydroelectric generation this summer, pushing up wholesale power prices in the West, and forcing the state to rely on natural gas generation and out-of-state imports, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects in a new analysis. The EIA suggests in a supplement to its May 2022–released Short-Term Energy Outlook […]

An unprecedented array of risks—ranging from capacity shortfalls, extreme weather, extended drought, supply chain issues, cybersecurity, solar PV tripping, fuel constraints, to wildfires—could imperil the reliability of nearly every North American bulk power system (BPS) region west of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) this summer, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in […]

The impacts of climate change are being experienced across the power generation industry, and certainly in the hydropower sector, with generation directly tied to the ebbs and flows of precipitation. Areas

Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities. Similar conditions across the West are prompting a careful watch over hydropower facilities.

As a professional power analyst and former hydrologist who literally got my feet wet scheduling hydropower -generation on the Columbia River, the emergence of rolling blackouts in the Pacific Northwest, especially as an expense of a changing climate, is the last thing I want to see happen. COMMENTARY This year’s record-breaking heat wave is a […]

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding to a June 29 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California […]

Rain and snow has returned to California, ending the record-setting drought with record-setting precipitation. The drought led to forest fires, dead orchards, and brown lawns. It also took a big bite out of ratepayers’ wallets and increased global warming emissions, due to the loss of low-cost, zero-emission hydropower. In a study released April 26 by […]

Droughts attributed to the El Niño phenomenon have gripped Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia. Bogotá in April prepared to ration power and instituted mandatory reductions in consumption, warning that

Oil-rich Venezuela is gripped by a power crisis so debilitating that the government has instituted four-hour daily blackouts across most of the country, forced hotels and malls to generate their own power, and

California’s grid gurus say they can make it through this summer, but the future may pose real problems for a hydro-heavy regional system. As the grip of California’s four-year drought tightens, will the long-running event crimp electricity generation in the state? So far, according to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which dispatches much of […]

Water and energy are intimately linked. Water is necessary for the production, distribution, and use of energy. Energy is needed for the withdrawal and delivery of water. The two are inseparable. Several

A lack of rainfall is hitting the power industry especially hard in parts of Brazil. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the country depends on hydroelectricity for more than 75% of its electric power supply (Figure 2). But with reservoir levels at historic lows in some places, more electricity has been required from […]

A years-long drought afflicting California could put financial pressure on a number of the state’s hydropower generators, a ratings agency warns.  Fitch Ratings on Friday said that while the financial impact could be manageable, utilities that depend on hydropower generation for the most part may be forced to use more expensive generation and purchased power […]