California’s green energy goals being threatened by drought

SAN FRANCISCO – Already locked in its third dry year, an ongoing drought could complicate California’s battle against global warming and make it more expensive, officials said.

For years, dams have been one of California’s main sources of clean energy, generating power without emitting greenhouse gases.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday that many energy-generating reservoirs are low today, and future dry years could slash the amount of power flowing from the state’s hydroelectric dams, putting higher demands on less clean and costlier sources. Less water forces power companies to buy energy from conventional plants that burn natural gas.

“If there’s less hydro, the power has to come from somewhere,” said Victor Niemeyer of the Electric Power Research Institute. “You have to burn more gas, and that costs more money, all things considered.”

California has made strides to fight global warming, as the state pushes utility companies to obtain 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. That includes wind and solar power.

California’s emission levels peaked in 2004, but they fell steadily from 2007 to 2011, California Air Resources Board records show. At the drought’s onset, emission levels again started to rise.