CAISO Market Monitor Releases Blackout Report, Confirms Hydro Performed Well
CAISO’s Department of Market Monitoring (DMM), essentially its market watchdog, released a report last week detailing the market’s performance during the August 2020 blackouts. The new report confirms many of the same conclusions in the joint report issued by the CAISO, CPUC and CEC (see here for background on that report). These conclusions include the record west-wide extreme temperatures, inadequate reserve margins and overestimation of resources that count as RA capacity.
Regarding that last conclusion, the report found that wind and solar resources accounted for a significant portion of RA capacity that did not perform during the most stressed system times. During the hours that load was curtailed, solar and wind resources performed on average 57% of what was expected from their resource adequacy obligations. In contrast, during these same hours, in-state hydro performed at about 91% of its RA obligation. In addition, imports from outside CAISO, which are dominated by hydro resources from the Pacific Northwest, performed at 92% of what the system was expecting during net peak hours on August 14 and 15.
This confirms that hydropower continues to provide essential, dispatchable and renewable power when the grid needs its most.
IN THE KNOW…
NHA VIRTUAL EVENT: What’s Hydropower’s Role in a Rapidly Decarbonizing Grid?
Join NHA on December 7th at 2:00 PM ET for the National Hydropower Association’s Path to Clean Energy Virtual Event, “The Role of Hydropower in a Rapidly Decarbonizing Grid”, featuring panelists from American Rivers, Stanford Woods Institute for Environment and Union of Concerned Scientists.
Last month, the hydropower industry and river community signed a historic Joint Statement of Collaboration to discuss ways to maximize hydropower’s climate benefits, while also mitigating the environmental impact of dams and supporting environmental restoration.
With the inauguration just a few months away, President-Elect Joe Biden has proposed a climate plan that would eliminate carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 2035.
At this virtual event, panelists will explore the increased role that hydropower can play in decarbonizing the grid, and how it can be accomplished in a way that bolsters the health and vitality of our nation’s rivers.
Event Panelists:
- Bob Irvin, President, American Rivers
- Dan Reicher, Senior Research Scholar, Stanford Woods Institute for Environment
- Steve Clemmer, Director of Energy Research & Analysis, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Malcolm Woolf, President & CEO, National Hydropower Association
Background:
The Joint Statement of Collaboration of Hydropower was convened by Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, where Dan Reicher is a senior research scholar.
With more than 90,000 existing U.S. dams, of which less than 2,500 have power houses, the hydropower industry and river community collectively agreed that this basic fact created the opportunity to:
- Rehabilitate powered and non-powered dams that need repairs,
- Retrofit (e.g., upgrade) powered dams by adding generation at non-powered dams, developing pumped storage projects, and enhancing dam and reservoir operations, and
- Remove dams that no longer provided benefits to society, have safety issues that cannot be cost-effectively mitigated, or have adverse environmental impacts that cannot be effectively addressed.
OPG Commits to Being a Net-Zero Company By 2040; Releases First-Ever Climate Change Plan
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has released its Climate Change Plan that includes ambitious goals aimed at driving efficient, economy-wide decarbonization and economic renewal, while protecting the environment.
OPG’s Climate Change Plan builds on the work they have been doing to reduce their carbon-footprint. In 2014, OPG took a monumental step to combat climate change by stopping the burning of coal for electricity production. OPG has continued to demonstrate clean power leadership with the expansion of its hydro fleet and partnerships such as the Gull Bay micro grid and Nanticoke Solar facility.
WHAT WE’RE BROWSING
- EIA: New York Generated the Fourth Most Electricity From Renewable Sources of Any State in 2019
- Bureau of Reclamation: Trump Administration Finalizes Shasta Dam Raise Plan to Increase Water Storage for Californians and the Environment
- S&P Global: Brookfield Renewable signs hydro power contract with JPMorgan Chase
NHA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
- Exelon: Conowingo Dredging Plan Moves Ahead
- NYPA: Announces First Milestone of $1.1 Billion, 15-Year Project to Extend Operating Life of New York’s Largest Power Plant
- ORPC, Inc.: Portland Company Works on Tidal Power With U.S. Help
- PG&E: PG&E Corporation Appoints Patricia K. Poppe as Chief Executive Officer, Effective January 4, 2021
Has your company made the news lately? Please alert us so we can share with other NHA member companies. Send your information to Marla Barnes, our senior director of industry collaboration at marla@hydro.org or text to: 816-588-4639
MEMBER UPDATES
Upcoming NHA Committee & Council Conference Calls and Webinars
REGISTER NOW: NHA’s California Regional Meeting
Don’t miss NHA’s 2020 California Regional Virtual Meeting Dec 15-16, featuring California ISO CEO and President, Elliot Mainzer, as the Opening Keynote Speaker.
STAYING UPDATED: Women in Hydropower Mentorship Program
The Women in Hydropower Mentorship Program, now in its fourth year, has created 51 pairs for its 2020-2021 mentorship cycle. For the cycle, the program received 90 applications from 26 countries. Pairs can look forward to getting suggested discussion topic ideas and recommendations on articles to read and videos to watch.
The program’s steering committee welcomes any ideas you may have for these monthly emails. Send ideas to: Nora Rosemore, Minnesota Power, nrosemore@mnpower.com
OpEx: Help Us to Raise the Hydropower Industry’s Standard of Performance!
Over the past few months, there have been 14 new events added to the Operational Excellence database. Each real-life event describes what happened and what is being done to prevent the event (if negative) from happening again.
Want to learn more about OpEx? Schedule an OpEx Informational Webinar for employees in your company. Please contact Luciana at luciana@hydro.org for details and scheduling opportunities.
Four NHA Member Companies Receive Support to Advance Marine Energy Technologies
Four NHA member companies – CalWave Power Technologies, ORPC, Oscilla Power, and University of Hawaii Natural Energy Institute – are receiving technology support from the U.S. government to further their marine energy technologies.
The purpose of the support is to accelerate the viability of marine renewables by providing access to the nation’s best facilities and expertise to: solve challenges, build knowledge, foster innovation, and drive commercialization
The technological support comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, through the program TEAMER, which is directed by NHA member Pacific Ocean Energy Trust.
TEAMER is accepting additional requests for technical support. Applications are due December 18.
STAY UP-TO-DATE
Dates to Remember
December 4: Applications due for ORISE MHK Grad Fellowship
December 15-16: California Regional Virtual Meeting: Register Here
December 18: Applications due for TEAMER’s request for technical support
January 31: Applications due for Groundbreaking Hydro Prize: Learn More
Clean Currents 2021, A New Current Will Flow
With an eye towards 2021, and confidence in the nation’s ability to address COVID-19, NHA recently announced the creation of Clean Currents 2021, a new industry-led tradeshow and conference that will bring all waterpower technologies together – conventional hydropower, pumped storage, small hydro, and marine energy.
Clean Currents 2021, which will be held October 20-22 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, marks the evolution and growth of the waterpower industry.
GOING VIRTUAL: Waterpower Week & ICOE 2021
Waterpower Week is the chief platform for industry advancement and learning, while ensuring waterpower’s message is being heard within the Beltway.
ICOE 2021 is designed to showcase breakthroughs in ocean energy technology research and development, prepare ocean renewable energy to benefit the larger “Blue Economy” and the electrical grid, and identify research needed to further advance the state of the technology.
Due to concerns around COVID-19 regarding travel, NHA has made the decision to bring Waterpower Week 2021 and the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) 2021 to a virtual platform. The events will continue to be held on April 28 – 30, 2021.
