Electricity from Oregon and Washington dams hit 22-year low in 2023
By Joe Hathaway on Thursday, April 4th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
EASTERN OREGON — Electricity generated by Oregon and Washington dams dropped to a 22-year-low in 2023.
Officials from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) have released data indicating that hydropower generation in the Northwest reached its lowest level since 2001 between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.
Eleven Western states collectively produce up to 60% of the United States’ hydroelectricity, which is more than 90% carbon free. Oregon and Washington alone produce more than one-third of the nation’s total hydropower output.
According to the EIA report, Oregon and Washington generated 20% less hydropower in 2023 than in 2021. The EIA blames the lack of production on low snowpack, low precipitation from drought, as well as the May 2023 heat wave that rapidly melted snowpack in the region that typically produces water needed for generation during summer months.
Officials at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal agency in charge of managing all federally owned dams in the Northwest, says they’re not surprised by the lack of generation in 2023.
“We kind of expected it and we planned for it as water is the fuel we need for the dams,” said Doug Johnson, a spokesman for BPA. “We do our best to understand everything we can about its availability, timing, what trends may be emerging hydrologically and we do a good job accounting for that.”
The Columbia River Basin, covering parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Canada, houses a total of 150 hydropower dams. Among these, there are 18 hydroelectric dams situated on the main stem of the Columbia River and its primary tributary, the Snake River. According to the BPA, these dams play a crucial role in supplying electricity to 60% of the population in the Northwest and contribute to 90% of the region’s renewable energy generation.
BPA suggests that increased occurrences of drought and rising temperatures may also influence future hydropower production.
“We take into account what we plan on seeing in terms of the impact of climate change by using the latest 30-years of available data, patterns and trends,” said Johnson. “We are using every mechanism possible to keep pace with what we expect the water situation to be year over year and what that means for energy availability.”
The decrease in hydropower production happens when people need more electricity than ever before in the Northwest. This demand is expected to keep growing as more transportation, factories, and homes are switching to electricity.
Electricity demand is also expected to increase as more data centers are built in the Northwest in and around the Columbia River Basin. The BPA expects data centers to more than double their demand in Oregon and Washington during the next two decades, but says it is planning for the future to have enough capacity to meet the area’s demands.
