You know right off the bat we
just heard the news within the
last couple days that the Hyatt
Power plant is now in operation.
Can you explain the thinking?
The math that went into allowing
that to fire back up and some
of the some of the benefits?
Well, the
I mean the it's it's basically in
order to operate the the power plant
we need to have a certain amount of
of water in the lake elevation wise
to create head pressure to generate
through the units and so with the last
series of storms coming through it it,
it pushed us above that level that
we can safely bring the units back
online and start generation as well.
I mean the byproduct is is basically
getting clean renewable energy out
on the the grid so its demands go up.
We we have that source available.
And then it allows us the flexibility to
to make releases at the power plant as
opposed to the river valve outlet system,
which is the base of the dam.
When that's an operation we're
not generating,
so we don't have that that revenue
from the additional power creation,
but we do have.
How important is hydropower
to California energy grid?
And also you know California's
goals toward reducing CO2 emissions.
It's a very clean, renewable resource
hydro is it has the benefit that if the
water is available we can bring the
units online within a matter of minutes,
whereas I believe some other other
types of energy producers can take a
considerable amount of time to get their
power output to where it needs to be.
So hydro is quite flexible where
we can bring it online and offline
in a quite rapid manner.
Going back to you know the
seriousness and the quickness really,
of the drought status that we got into
through the summer and early fall.
Can you describe that moment when
you had to shut down the plant simply
because there there wasn't the water
available at the height to make it run?
Yeah, I mean we we.
I mean we knew kind of an advance based
on the the projections for the weather
and knowing what the lake level was.
So I mean luckily we had like you said
we have that release at the base of the
dam at the river valve outlet system and.
And we went to basically bare minimum
operation for releases to make
our water requirement deliveries
downstream for the fisheries.
The the water temperatures and flows
we need to we need to maintain for
health and life safety and then
for the local water rights users
that have kind of seniority rights.
So we kind of went just to the
bear operation but it really just
shutting down the power plant is
basically just turning it off and
and it's it's it's no different than
actually just turning it off.
Going back on if we have the water pressure,
which we unfortunately didn't at the time.
Do you have anything to say to a
common criticism that at least I
come across all the time whenever
I write about these topics?
Is people understanding of the
usage of a dam as being solely
to capture and retain water?
With the you know the the still serious
levels of drought that we're in right now.
What do you say to the people
that might criticize you?
Releasing any water at all in a drought,
even if it is for you,
know the benefit of making power?
Well, I mean I, I still think
even though we're in a drought,
we still need to make water deliveries
to the bare minimum to one.
Like I said, for life and health,
health and life safety.
And then we also have a lot of
regulatory requirements regarding
the the fisheries downstream.
And so I think we're able
to maintain storage delay.
That we can.
Still maintain the deliveries we need to,
but then.
Retain as much water as possibly
feasible for the users of California,
as as the temperatures increase in
the water supply down South decreases.
And this will be my my last question.
You know, in in the future
everything that I've been looking
at everything I've been reading,
everybody I've heard from the experts
regarding climate change specifically
for California in the future,
they are stating that we're just going
to see more extremes of everything,
more extreme heat, more extreme dryness.
But also years of extreme precipitation.
With regarding the generation of power
there for for or Vilma Hyatt Power plant,
how do you think climate change
could affect operations of that green
resource of power in the future?
And
I mean, it's it's.
It's hard to tell because I mean if if
we continue with the drought scenario,
the operability of the power
plant will be limited.
I mean, we, we need the water supply in
order to generate power and make releases.
So if if the drought continues,
it definitely will impact our ability to
operate in the manner that we're used to.
But that's to be determined.
And I mean, if this continues long term,
we're flexible enough that
maybe we make some modifications
and changes in how we operate.
To get to more of a normal see
based on the the less likelihood
of of major precipitation.
Alright, thank you I I that
that's all front for me.
Do you have anything that you wanted
to state that to to get out there?
That may be a question I didn't ask.
I don't think so. I mean, I just the one.
The one bonus that we were able to deal
with the low lake is we're able to do
a lot of maintenance on the facility,
and that's going to allow us to have
good reliability for the upcoming season.
And I don't expect to see any shutdowns
at facility based on the maintenance
we're able to do in that time frame.