This year will mark my 30th working in energy-related fields. I began as an intern at the Bonneville Power Administration in 1991 and have worked as an energy professional ever since. I’ve stayed in this field because I have a passion for it. Energy policy impacts so many different aspects of our lives. From the air we breathe to climate change and social equity, energy choices are of paramount importance.
One question I often hear debated is whether wind and solar
power are now cheaper than hydropower. This is most often brought up by people
contending that hydropower can be replaced by other renewables at a cost
savings.
While all three resources are carbon-free and harness
renewable energy (wind, sunshine, flowing water), most of the region’s dams
were built between the 1940s and 1970s and have already been paid for. So,
existing hydropower has a distinct affordability edge, even if you add in the
cost of turbine upgrades at the region’s dams.
Still, I believe people are asking the wrong question.
We shouldn’t think of replacing hydropower generation with
wind and solar plants. Instead, we should ask how our carbon-free energy
resources can best partner to help us reach our decarbonization goals.
To answer this question, you have to understand how the
electric grid works.
The entire Western electricity grid – from Canada down to
parts of Mexico – operates as a synchronized mega-machine, governing millions
of smaller machines. If, at any moment, the grid loses its perfect balance
between supply and demand of energy, the synchronization fails. If this
happens, it could lead to uncontrolled cascading blackouts across the Western
US, Western Canada, and parts of Mexico. To put it mildly, that would be bad.
Something that adds to the complexity is that our demand for
electricity constantly ebbs and flows as nearly 100 million people across the
West turn on lights, cook meals, stream videos, charge their EVs, and heat or
cool their homes.
Wind and solar power are valuable in this mix because they
provide an inexpensive carbon-free energy source. However, because wind and
solar power are dependent on near-term weather (wind and sunshine), they can
actually make the grid more difficult to balance.
This is where hydropower shows its impressive value. Like
wind and solar power, hydropower provides important zero-carbon energy to the
grid, but its true importance is in its ability to act like a giant clean
energy battery. Hydropower dams do this by storing more water when electricity
isn’t needed and releasing it past hydroelectric turbines when it is. This
unique ability helps make the grid’s delicate balancing act possible.
This role is especially important because long-duration
batteries aren’t commercially viable, and even shorter-duration lithium-ion
batteries are still very expensive. This is one of the reasons the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently called on Congress to,
"[preserve] operating nuclear and hydroelectric facilities where
possible,” to ensure we don’t overburden vulnerable communities with excessive
costs.
This statement recognizes that hydropower is a zero-carbon
energy resource that can ramp up and down energy production on a moment’s
notice, allowing us to add more wind and solar power safely to the grid.
Malcolm Woolf, CEO of the National Hydropower Association, puts it best:
“Hydropower is a clean energy force multiplier.”
As we contend with the devastating effects of climate change
and the threat of a worsening crisis, we need our best carbon-free energy
options to remain on the table, and there is no question that hydropower’s
special capabilities mean it should be at the top of the list.
Kurt Miller is the executive director of the nonprofit
Northwest RiverPartners, which advocates for hydropower.
