California hits drought mark as Oroville hydropower shuts down for the first time

SAN FRANCISCO – California water managers on Thursday shut down hydropower production at Lake Oroville for the first time due to the drop in lake levels, a milestone in the state’s historic drought.

What happened: The Hyatt Lake Oroville Power Plant went offline for the first time in history due to low water levels in the state’s second largest reservoir. The lake typically generates electricity by sending water through its turbines, but it cannot generate electricity when the lake level drops below 630-640 feet. Levels reached 642 feet on Thursday, state data showed.

The context: Hyatt Powerplant has a capacity of 750 MW but typically delivers 100 to 400 MW depending on the lake level. It was operating at decreasing capacity as levels declined from 30 MW last week to 10 MW this week. Officials had predicted since June that the reservoir could lose power and said Thursday that “steps have been taken” to prepare for the loss.

“DWR anticipated this moment and the state anticipated its loss in water and grid management,” DWR director Karla Nemeth said in a statement.

Network operators worried about power outages this summer and launched half a dozen calls for voluntary conservation as temperatures rose and supplies fell due to transmission constraints and offline production. . Overall electricity supply on Thursday is expected to be well above expected demand, but hydropower levels were about a third lower than last August.

Oroville is at 24% of its capacity, which is about a third of the average for this time of year. The state’s other large reservoirs are doing slightly better, with Shasta Lake at 31% capacity and Trinity Lake at 40%.

What this means: California must rely on other energy options as it suffers the impacts of climate change. Although the state may import additional supply, it has become less reliable as large forest fires threaten transmission lines in the West, as was the case last month in Oregon during a heatwave in California.

Governor Gavin Newsom has relaxed the rules on the use of fossil fuels to allow back-up power in the event of an emergency. The state is desperately trying to avoid the kind of blackouts it suffered in a heat wave last summer.

Newsom’s administration will be especially watched over the next six weeks as it faces a recall election on September 14. Republican candidates for replacement pointed to blackouts and unreliable power supply, as well as lack of water, as some of the reasons for his removal from office.

Assembly Member James Gallagher (R-Nicolaus), a frequent Newsom critic who supports the recall and represents the city of Oroville, said in a statement that “Californians should reject the governor’s evasions and apologies. Drainage of the lake at a historically low level was avoidable. And the forced shutdown of Hyatt Powerplant was preventable. With proper forest management, catastrophic forest fires are preventable. “

Colby Bermel contributed to this report.