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

Pacific Institute | February 1st, 2016

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 th

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.

Impacts of the California Drought from 2007 to 2009: Surprising Outcomes for California’s Agriculture, Energy, and Environment

Pacific Institute | June 16th, 2011

California’s three-year drought, which ended with this season’s cool and wet weather, had complicated and serious impacts that have been poorly understood and reporte

California’s three-year drought, which ended with this season’s cool and wet weather, had complicated and serious impacts that have been poorly understood and reported. Some of the impacts were expected; others were surprising. The Pacific Institute has just completed a nine-month assessment of new data from California’s agricultural, energy, and environmental sectors to evaluate actual consequences of the drought for the state. Analysis of state and federal data released over the past year finds that contrary to much of the media reporting, California’s agricultural community proved flexible and resilient, generating agri­cultural revenues in 2007, 2008, and 2009 that were the highest on record. And agriculture-related occupations remained a stable portion of total jobs available in areas directly impacted by water supply restrictions. Less frequently reported were the substantial impacts on energy production and aquatic ecosystems during the drought, which were economically and environmentally significant. “More severe drought is inevitable, and the U.S. – and California in particular – has not reformed drought monitoring, evaluation, planning, and response strategies the way other countries and regions have,” said Juliet Christian-Smith, senior research associate at the Pacific Institute and lead author of the report. “To become more resilient to future droughts, it will be critical to shift from crisis-driven responses to long-term mitigation strategies.” The Pacific Institute analysis, Impacts of the California Drought from 2007-2009, focused on three drought-sensitive sectors: agricultural production, energy production, and ecosystem health.  

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

United States Congress | August 6th, 2022

Click "get document" for the entire bill. Scroll below to see its drought relief amendment.

Click "get document" for the entire bill. Scroll below to see its drought relief amendment.

Key Issues in Seawater Desalination in California: Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Pacific Institute | May 1st, 2013

Interest in seawater desalination in California is high, with 17 plants proposed along the California coast and two in Mexico. But removing the salt from seawater is an e

Interest in seawater desalination in California is high, with 17 plants proposed along the California coast and two in Mexico. But removing the salt from seawater is an energy-intensive process that consumes more energy per gallon than most other water supply and treatment options. A new report from the Pacific Institute series Key Issues for Seawater Desalination in California describes the energy requirements and associated greenhouse gas emissions for desalinated water and evaluates the impact of short- and long-term energy price variability on the cost of desalinated water. Energy requirements are key factors that will impact the extent and success of desalination in California. Key Issues for Seawater Desalination in California: Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions shows energy requirements for seawater desalination average about 15,000 kWh per million gallons of water produced. By comparison, the least energy-intensive options of local sources of groundwater and surface water require 0 – 3,400 kWh per million gallons; wastewater reuse, depending on treatment levels, may require from 1,000 – 8,300 kWh per million gallons; and energy requirements for importing water through the State Water Project to Southern California range from 7,900 – 14,000 kWh per million gallons. “Beyond the electricity required for the desalination facility itself, producing any new source of water, including through desalination, increases the amount of energy required to deliver and use the water produced as well as collect, treat, and dispose of the wastewater generated,” said Heather Cooley, co-director of the Pacific Institute Water Program and report author. Conservation and efficiency, by contrast, can help meet the anticipated needs associated with growth while maintaining or even reducing total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.” Desalination is a reliable source of water, which can be especially valuable during a drought. However, building a desalination plant may reduce a water utility’s exposure to water reliability risks at the added expense of an increase in exposure to energy price risk. Energy is the largest single variable cost for a desalination plant, varying from one-third to more than one-half the cost of produced water. Because of its high energy use, desalination creates or increases the water supplier’s exposure to energy price variability.

Land subsidence caused by the East Mesa geothermal field, California, observed using SAR interferometry

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | April 15th, 1997

Interferometric combination of pairs of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by the ERS-1 satellite maps the deformation field associated with the activity o

Interferometric combination of pairs of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired by the ERS-1 satellite maps the deformation field associated with the activity of the East Mesa geothermal plant, located in southern California. SAR interferometry is applied to this flat area without the need of a digital terrain model. Several combinations are used to ascertain the nature of the phenomenon. Short term interferograms reveal surface phase changes on agricultural fields similar to what had been observed previously with SEASAT radar data. Long term (2 years) interferograms allow the study of land subsidence and improve prior knowledge of the displacement field, and agree with existing, sparse levelling data. This example illustrates the power of the interferometric technique for deriving accurate industrial intelligence as well as its potential for legal action, in cases involving environmental damages. *Correction appended

Land-use interactions, Oil-Field infrastructure, and natural processes control hydrocarbon and arsenic concentrations in groundwater, Poso Creek Oil Field, California, USA

Elsevier | May 7th, 2024

Long-Distance High-Tension Transmission of Power in California

Scientific American | May 16th, 1903

In the vast developments of electric power and its transmission California is fast solving the problem of cheaper fuel and power. The remarkable development that has o

In the vast developments of electric power and its transmission California is fast solving the problem of cheaper fuel and power. The remarkable development that has occurred in the long-distance high-tension transmission of power as well as the approximate magnitude of the transmission industry is directly traceable to the absence of coal in material quantities in this State and the corresponding high price of mechanical power. The great cost of steam power at the time of earliest efforts toward electric transmission was responsible for the turn of the California tide of engineering effort from the coal pile to the waterfall as the most promising source of energy whence to operate the rapidly growing electrical industries of the Golden State.

Modeling California’s high-elevation hydropower systems in energy units

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | September 22nd, 2009

This paper presents a novel approach for modeling high-elevation hydropower systems. Conservation of energy and energy flows (rather than water volume or mass flows) is

This paper presents a novel approach for modeling high-elevation hydropower systems. Conservation of energy and energy flows (rather than water volume or mass flows) is used as the basis for modeling more than 135 high-elevation high-head hydropower sites throughout California. The unusual energy basis for reservoir modeling allows for development of hydropower operations models for a large number of plants to estimate large-scale system behavior without the expense and time needed to develop traditional streamflow and reservoir volume-based models in absence of storage and release capacity, penstock head, and efficiency information. Potential applications of the developed Energy-Based Hydropower Optimization Model (EBHOM) include examination of the effects of climate change and energy prices on system-wide generation and hydropower revenues. An extensive comparison of the EBHOM with a traditional hydropower optimization model used in California produced similar results and indicated good reliability of EBHOM’s predictions.

Modeling Cost, Energy, and Total Organic Carbon Trade-Offs for Stormwater Spreading Basin Systems Receiving Recycled Water Produced Using Membrane-Based, Ozone-Based, and Hybrid Advanced Treatment Trains

American Chemical Society (ACS) | January 31st, 2019

To address water scarcity, cities are pursuing options for augmenting groundwater recharge with recycled water. Ozone-based treatment trains comprising ozone and biologic

To address water scarcity, cities are pursuing options for augmenting groundwater recharge with recycled water. Ozone-based treatment trains comprising ozone and biologically activated carbon potentially offer cost-effective alternatives to membrane-based treatment, the standard process for potable reuse in numerous countries. However, regulations in multiple states effectively limit the extent to which ozone-based treatment alone can produce recycled water for groundwater recharge. To investigate the trade-offs between treatment costs and regulatory constraints, this study presents methods for modeling and optimizing designs for (1) producing recycled water using membrane-based treatment, ozone-based treatment, and hybrid treatment trains comprising ozone-based treatment with a membrane sidestream, and (2) delivering that water to stormwater spreading basins. We present a case study of Los Angeles, CA, to demonstrate the model’s application under realistic conditions, including regulations that limit spreading recycled water based on its concentration of total organic carbon and the extent of dilution. While the membrane-based treatment train exhibits economies of scale, we demonstrate how regulatory constraints create a diseconomies of scale effect for hybrid treatment systems because larger scales necessitate a higher proportion of recycled water undergo membrane treatment. Nevertheless, relative to membrane-based treatment, we identify opportunities for ozone-based or hybrid treatment trains to reduce treatment costs and energy use by up to 62% and 59%, respectively, for systems with up to 1 m3/s (23 million gallons per day) mean water recycling rate, potentially lowering the barrier for decentralized water recycling systems. This modeling approach could inform planning and policy regarding recycled water projects for groundwater recharge through spreading basins and, with additional modification, other potable reuse applications.

Multiple-well monitoring site adjacent to the Elk Hills Oil Field, Kern County, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | October 26th, 2023