Lindsay Aramayo of The US Energy Information Administration reports that extreme and exceptional drought conditions have been affecting different parts of the United States, especially the Pacific Northwest, which is home to most U.S. hydropower capacity. Aramayo writes:
In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that electricity generation from U.S. hydropower plants in 2024 will be 13% less than the 10-year average, the least amount of electricity generated from hydropower since 2001. Extreme and exceptional drought conditions have been affecting different parts of the United States, especially the Pacific Northwest, which is home to most U.S. hydropower capacity.
As of the end of September, 72.6% of the continental United States was experiencing dryer-than-normal to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. By the end of October, this value increased to 87.2%. Multiple regions are affected by drought conditions, but the effects on hydropower generation are more obvious in the Pacific Northwest. For example, a recent study conducted by the University of Alabama found that hydropower generation in Washington state is one of the most susceptible to droughts in the country, ranking right below California based on data from 2003 to 2020. […]
As early as April of this year, the Washington State Department of Ecology declared most counties in the state under drought. The department takes this step when water supply in the state is less than 75% of normal. In Oregon, two counties declared a drought emergency this summer, first in June in Jefferson County and then in September in Lake County.
Drought effects in the Northwest according to STEO
In the STEO, we forecast electricity generation for electricity market regions instead of state geographical boundaries. We expect hydropower generation in the Northwest electricity region, which includes the Columbia River Basin and parts of other Rocky Mountain states, to total 101.8 billion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2024, a 23% decrease from the 10-year average of 132.8 billion kWh and a 1% decrease from 2023.
Read more here.