Yuba Water sees record month your daily Hydropower generation brought in $11.7 million due to hot temperatures in August briefing Rain possible by the end of the week

The battles against fires burning around Northern California could be helped this week with a cooling trend and the possibility for precipitation both in the valley and foothills beginning Friday.

The National Weather Service

Tuesday was calling for a 20 percent chance of rain on Friday with a high around 72 degrees for Yuba-sutter.

Rain totals for Friday and Saturday combined could total anywhere from ¼

Due to record-breaking temperatures in August, the state’s grid had a high demand for energy. The Yuba Water Agency helped address the issue by increasing its hydropower generation along the Yuba River.

As a result of the uptick in hydropower generation, the agency saw its highest month on record for revenues, which totaled $11.7 million – $4.2 million more than the same month a year prior.

“Beginning in mid-august, we increased hydropower generation at our Narrows 2 hydropower facility to support the urgent demand.

Under normal circumstances, we would have saved this water for future needs, but in light of the historic heat wave and energy shortage, we chose to proactively plan

and coordinate with the California ISO, taking the initiative to increase our power generation to help the state through the crisis,” said Dede Cordell, communications manager for the Yuba Water Agency. “…This situation really showed the value of hydropower and the importance of our FERC license and water rights, to be able to utilize our water supply capacity to support the grid with additional carbon free energy when the state needed it most.”

The agency began to ramp down those efforts on Aug. 23 as demand decreased.

Hydropower revenue is projected to be about average for September, due to a below-average water year and the agency operating to minimum flow requirements to maintain its end of water-year storage target in New Bullards Bar. Still, Cordell said, the lower amount of total generation is being offset with generally higher energy prices due to the warmer temperatures experienced last month.

The agency first began generating hydropower in 2016 after taking over several facilities along the river from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which had been utilizing the sites for several decades prior. Since then, the agency’s total revenues have been approximately $258 million, and about 83 percent of that (approximately $213 million) has come from hydropower revenues.

With just over $161 million currently in reserves, the agency’s goal is to get to $200 million to ensure there is enough set aside to meet basic operating expenses for a year, capital needed to cover regulatory requirements, planned projects and unanticipated damages from emergencies like floods and wildfire.

“This reserve fund ensures we can cover future commitments such as the estimated $225 million secondary spillway, the $4.6 million annual levee bond repayment, a multi-year commitment that helps fund ecological forest management and restoration in the Yuba River Watershed, and as much as $230 million over the next 30 years to implement actions required to secure a new license

from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the Yuba River Development Project,” Cordell said.

Of the agency’s total revenues since 2016, approximately $135 million has been spent over the last three years.

Aside from the agency’s annual operating expenses, it has invested revenues back into Yuba County through projects tied to its core mission areas, with its efforts to reduce flood risk taking the largest share of funds. Other major expenditures, Cordell said, include planning and design work for the secondary spillway at New Bullards Bar, relicensing work, investments to improve water supply facilities throughout the county, groundwater monitoring and management, and fish habitat restoration on the lower Yuba River.

The agency’s board has also committed to investing up to $10 million a year in projects that have strong potential for positive economic and quality of life impacts in Yuba County, Cordell said, including things like forest restoration, supporting local first responders’ emergency response with equipment and training, upgrading water infrastructure, enhancing education through curriculum development and planning for a water education center, local water conservation efforts, and water quality improvements at Ellis Lake, among others.

The agency’s expenditures are limited to projects and programs that are tied to its core missions of flood risk

reduction, water supply, hydropower generation, fish habitat enhancement and recreation at New Bullards Bar.

“We look at each opportunity with a critical eye and see if there is a way we can legally justify the expenditure and what kind of impact it can have on our community’s safety, prosperity, resilience and quality of life,” Cordell said.

Community impact grants provided by the agency must tie in to those missions, be for the benefit of county residents, and go to other public agencies, Native American tribes or nonprofit organizations. Since the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, the agency has already committed $8.9 million in grants.

“We will actually be bringing a new grants policy to the board on Tuesday (Oct. 6) that, if approved, will slightly amend how we’ve been handling grants for the last couple of years,” Cordell said. “The biggest change is that we will be creating application periods – the months of March and September – when eligible entities can apply. This will help us be more strategic and budget accordingly.”

Aside from the approximately $455 million needed to construct a new spillway at New Bullards Bar and to implement required projects over the next several decades to meet requirements under the FERC license, the agency has a number of plans for future revenues generated by hydropower.

The agency is on the hook for $5.6 million in bond

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payments up until 2038 to cover the local costs of building the Feather

River Setback Levee.

Forest restoration efforts to help with the watershed’s resiliency could take more than 20 years to accomplish. A new water education center along the Yuba River will take a sizable chunk of that funding.

Also, the agency is working with local governments, regional entities, community leaders

and others to develop a strategic plan for economic growth in Yuba County.

“We are currently putting the finishing touches on that plan, which identifies many things that can be done to spark economic development and improve the quality of life for Yuba County, and many of those projects will be investments Yuba Water can participate in over the long term,” Cordell said.

Decisions on how to

best utilize funding are made during twicemonthly public meetings of the agency’s Board of Directors. The agency is also audited by a third party with findings posted to its website – www.yubawater. org.

“We are committed to transparency and to investing revenue back into Yuba County in ways that will increase the economic prosperity and quality of life for all of our residents,” Cordell said.