When winter moves in, hydropower remains steady
It was January 2024, and Eastern Washington was in the grip of one of the coldest stretches in recent memory. As temperatures plunged to -13°F, furnaces and electric heaters hummed to life throughout the region, and life-saving electricity stayed on. Behind it all, a quiet giant was working overtime—the Columbia and Snake River hydropower system.
While most Washington families huddled indoors that frigid week, the region’s hydroelectric dams were doing what they do best: delivering reliable, carbon-free electricity. As wind turbines stood frozen and solar panels disappeared under blankets of snow, hydropower surged to fill the gap. Providing more than 70 percent of the Northwest’s electricity during the peak of the crisis.
“Hydropower doesn’t get enough credit for being our safety net,” says Joe Morgan, CEO of Modern Electric Water Company. “When extreme weather hits and people need power most, hydropower is the resource that shows up, every single time.”
The Power Grid’s Emergency Response System
During that January deep freeze, the lower Snake River dams alone provided over 1,000 megawatts twice daily, the equivalent to powering about 750,000 homes. This kind of rapid response capability is precisely what separates hydropower from virtually every other energy source. Unlike wind and solar, which depend entirely on weather conditions, hydropower can be dispatched on demand, scaled up within minutes, and sustained for as long as needed to keep electric power going.
When temperatures plunge into dangerous territory, electricity becomes more than a convenience, it becomes a lifeline for seniors, families, and patients in hospitals. All of them dependent on uninterrupted electricity to survive.
What Happens When the Lights Go Out
The consequences of grid failure during extreme cold are severe and swift. In the first hour of a blackout, vulnerable residents lose access to medical equipment. After several hours, backup batteries fail, food spoils, and communication networks begin to degrade. During winter emergencies, even brief power disruptions can quickly escalate into life-threatening situations.
“People don’t think about it until something goes wrong,” Morgan explains. “But when we talk about energy reliability, we’re really talking about whether grandma’s oxygen machine keeps running, whether the local hospital can maintain operations, whether families can keep their children warm through the night.”
The January 2024 cold snap demonstrated this reality in stark terms. Regional demand surged to near-record levels while wind generation essentially flatlined. Solar output, already minimal in winter, contributed almost nothing. Natural gas plants worked to bridge the gap, but without the rapid, sustained output from hydroelectric facilities, the Northwest would have faced rolling blackouts—potentially with catastrophic consequences.
The Energy Crunch Nobody’s Talking About
What made that January crisis particularly revealing was something energy planners call “coincident peaks,” when both the electric grid and natural gas system hit maximum demand simultaneously. In Eastern Washington, more than 70 percent of Spokane-area homes depend on natural gas for space heating, a crucial lifeline during freezing temperatures when electric resistance heat becomes prohibitively expensive for many families. For these households, gas isn’t a luxury, it’s their primary protection against subfreezing temperatures.
During extreme cold, natural gas serves double duty: heating homes directly while also fueling power plants that generate electricity for the grid. When both systems are stretched to capacity at the same time, the margin for error vanishes. This interconnected vulnerability underscores why maintaining diverse, reliable energy sources, like hydropower, is critical for regional resilience.
The Gap Between What We Need and What We Can Deliver
As Washington pursues ambitious clean energy goals, grid challenges are intensifying. The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) warns that new electric loads from data centers to transportation electrification are growing at record speed while energy supply becomes increasingly dependent on variable resources like wind and solar. Meanwhile, demand keeps climbing due to population growth, EV adoption, and building electrification. The result: shrinking safety margins and elevated risk during extreme weather events unless planning and construction accelerate dramatically.
Projections suggest regional electricity demand could nearly double by 2046. As extreme weather events test grid resilience with increasing frequency, the gap between what we need and what we can reliably deliver continues to widen.
Protecting Our Energy Resources
This is precisely why organizations like Northwest RiverPartners work to educate policymakers and the public about hydropower’s irreplaceable role. The dams along the Columbia and Snake Rivers don’t just generate carbon-free electricity, they provide the grid stability that makes renewable energy expansion possible. They’re the insurance policy that keeps the lights on when everything else fails.
The lower Snake River dams, Grand Coulee, and the broader federal hydropower system represent more than infrastructure. They represent security, resilience, and the promise that when winter brings its worst, Washington’s families, hospitals, and businesses can count on the power they need to survive and thrive.
That’s the power that protects us. And that’s why preserving and modernizing our hydropower system isn’t just good energy policy—it’s a matter of life and safety for every Washington resident.
Join the movement to protect the hydropower system that feeds the world and powers our future. Visit nwriverpartners.org to learn more and get involved.