Heat and Drought Are Sucking US Hydropower Dry

The amount of hydropower generated in the Western US last year was the lowest it's been in more than two decades -- and 2024 isn't looking much better. From a report: Hydropower generation in the region fell by 11 percent during the 2022-2023 water year compared to the year prior, according to preliminary data from the Energy Information Administration's Electricity Data Browser -- its lowest point since 2001. That includes states west of the Dakotas and Texas, where 60 percent of the nation's hydropower was generated. These also happen to be the states -- including California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico -- that climate change is increasingly sucking dry. And in a reversal of fortunes, typically wetter states in the Northeast -- normally powerhouses for hydropower generation -- were the hardest hit. You can blame extreme heat and drought for the drop in hydropower last year. This creates a vicious cycle: drought reduces the amount of clean energy available from hydroelectric dams. To avoid energy shortfalls, utilities wind up relying on fossil fuels to make up the difference. That leads to more of the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, which makes droughts worse.

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