Grid reliability is a balancing act. A perfect harmony must be kept between the amount of energy we generate and the amount we consume at all times. If there’s too much energy on the grid or not enough, energy infrastructure begins to fail, and blackouts can occur. To keep that balance, we need resources that can keep up with our energy needs.

Hydropower has led the way in reliably performing that balancing act in our region for decades. We’ve also seen with recent heat waves and cold snaps that when energy demand is far higher than normal, hydropower can ramp up to help meet that need, too. These extreme weather events have brought the Northwest dangerously close to blackouts, but each time hydropower has helped keep the lights on when we needed it.