Full Title: Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: Drought Effects on California Electricity Generation and Western Power Markets
Author(s): U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Publisher(s): U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Over the last decade, California has experienced more frequent and intense drought conditions, and is currently in its third year of drought. Droughts limit water use in general and reduce hydropower in particular. Current drought conditions in the state potentially have a significant impact on power markets throughout the West, which could be different than in past years, given the state’s accelerating growth in intermittent generating capacity and reliance on imports, which account for nearly one-third of California’s power supply.
The analysis in this STEO supplement focuses on the drought’s effect on hydropower generation in California. Though the impact of drought on water-cooled thermal power plants was not explicitly modeled here, it is not expected to have a significant near-term effect on thermal generation in California.