Michael J. Sykes from Columbia River PUD speaks about a renewable Oregon resource.
The light will turn on when you flip the switch. Most people take instant access to electricity for granted. But do you know where this electricity comes from?
Columbia County gets about 85% of its electricity from clean, renewable hydropower. A further 11% comes from nuclear power, which means that at least 96% is carbon-free.
Hydropower has many benefits, including a lack of carbon emissions. Hydropower’s extraordinary reliability is another.
Because they are dependent on Mother Nature, reliability is not often associated with many other renewable resources. Hydropower, on other hand, can be relied upon and is predictable.
The water cycle continually replenishes the fuel supply. Columbia River Basin is our fuel source. It receives significant runoff from the snowmelt in the mountain peaks. This allows hydropower to meet our power needs 24 hours per day, seven days a semaine, 52 weeks a calendar year. Hydropower is the only renewable resource capable of producing such a high-quality, continuous electrical output.
Hydropower works well with other renewable sources. Hydropower can be controlled by operators. They can choose how much water is allowed through the dam’s water intakes. Operators can reduce hydropower when there is too much wind or solar power on sunny, windy day.
Operators can also increase water flow through dams when it is dark outside to compensate for a lack in other renewable resources.
Because hydropower plants are nimble enough to ramp their production up or down within minutes — or even seconds — these changes can be implemented quickly. This solves one of the most difficult problems in electrical systems: Energy should be consumed immediately after it is produced. It can’t be saved or stored for later.
Hydropower offers the next best thing. Dams can store up 30% of the average year’s runoff in storage reservoirs. These reservoirs can be thought of as giant batteries. They store energy — or in this case, water — when it’s not needed. When there’s a greater demand for power, the reservoir releases more water to provide the energy.
These reservoirs are used by hydropower operators to plan for seasonal changes. Operators in Columbia Basin fill reservoirs during wetter months to prepare for drier conditions.
Access to hydropower that is carbon-free is becoming more important as more coal plants retire and are removed from the grid in order to meet clean energy standards. We can still rely on hydropower to keep the lights on when we flip that switch.
Michael J. Sykes manages the Columbia River People’s Utility District.
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