Abundant Hydro Means Less Stress on California's Gas Grid This Summer

摘要

After a winter of heavy snows and drenching rains,hydro will be plentiful in California this summer to produce electricity in the West.And that should provide relief to a state that is heavily reliant on gas-fired power but whose gas grid has been hobbled in recent years.Nonetheless,gas powers about half of California's in-state electricity on average and should continue to do so even with the Golden State finally free of drought for the first time in seven years.California is one of the largest producers of hydroelectric power in the US,with vast projects that account for 20% of the state's electricity generation as long as there are adequate snow and rainfall.The state can also draw on the vast hydro output to the north,especially this year after heavy winter-spring snows sent projections of summer hydropower in the Pacific Northwest skyrocketing.That is welcome news for state regulators,as increasing summer gas demand in Southern California could be especially problematic due to a tight gas market that sent prices at the SoCal Citygate soaring above $7 per million Btu last summer,when the snowpack measured a paltry 66% of normal(NGW May 14’18).