Impacts of California’s Ongoing Drought: Hydroelectricity Generation 2015 Update

The Pacific Institute has released a comprehensive assessment of the costs to California of lost hydroelectricity during the four years of drought from October 2011 to the end of September 2015 (the official California “water year” runs from October 1 to September 30).

Under normal conditions, electricity for the state’s millions of users is produced from a blend of many sources, with natural gas and hydropower being the top two. Since the drought has reduced the state’s river flows that power hundreds of hydropower stations, natural gas has become a more prominent player in the mix. This is an expensive change. According to the Institute’s new report, the four years of drought led to an increase in electricity costs of more than $2.0 billion. The additional combustion of fossil fuels for electric generation also led to a 10 percent increase in the release of carbon dioxide from California power plants.

“The impacts of the California drought – which is the driest and the hottest in 120 years of instrumental records and one of the worst in history – has had widespread  impacts on all water users, including farmers, industries, cities, and natural ecosystems,” said the report’s author, Pacific Institute President Peter Gleick. “And in fact, all California ratepayers are affected by the drought as they pay for electricity that is both dirtier and more expensive than in non-drought years.”

In addition, the report notes that the ability to expand California’s hydroelectric capacity is limited, as there are few undammed rivers, little unallocated water, and growing environmental, economic, and political constraints to adding new hydropower capacity.