Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, July 24th, 2021

Drought Threatens to Close California Hydropower Plant for First Time

Author:     Anne C. Mulkern
Source:     Scientific America/E&E News
Publication Date:     July 16, 2021
 Link: Drought Threatens to Close California Hydropower Plant for First Time
Stephan:   Water is destiny, and here is an aspect of what that means that has gotten very little coverage until now. That will be changing as the lights go out. This is another example of how California is being increasingly impacted by climate change.
Houseboats sit anchored at the Bidwell Canyon Marina on Lake Oroville on June 1 in Oroville, Calif. As water levels continue to fall amid a historic drought, state officials say a hydroelectric power plant that relies on the lake will be forced to shut down this summer. Credit: Justin Sullivan Getty 

A California power plant likely will shut down for the first time ever because of low water during a prolonged drought, squeezing the state’s very tight electricity supplies, state officials said yesterday.

The Edward Hyatt power plant, an underground facility next to Oroville Dam in Butte County, is expected to close in August or September, said John Yarbrough, California Department of Water Resources assistant deputy director of the State Water Project. The plant has run continuously since opening in 1967. It receives water from Lake Oroville, and that reservoir has dropped because of the drought, as CNN previously reported.

Lake Oroville is among several California reservoirs hit by drought.

In addition, “high heat events in California and the rest of the West have begun earlier than usual and have exceeded historic […]

Read the Full Article