S. Carolina's Drought May Impact Electricity Supply Along With Crops

[hatrack]

Unless South Carolina sees some serious rain soon, farmers and power customers will be paying the price. Decreased water flow through the Hartwell, Thurmond and Russell dams due to the drought might decrease hydroelectric power and force the Southeastern Power Administration to find alternate sources of electricity to meet summer demand. And farmers have had to face a double whammy of a late frost followed by extremely dry conditions leading to short hay supplies and possible damage to crops.

The Upstate has a year-to-date rain deficit exceeding 8 inches, and it would take 6 to 9 inches of rain to alleviate drought conditions, according to National Weather Service statistics. Sandy Campbell, a park ranger at Hartwell Lake, said the Hartwell basin specifically has a 12-inch rain deficit.

Billy Birdwell with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District, which includes Hartwell, Thurmond and Russell lakes, said the lack of rain is moving the region’s lakes close to drought level trigger one, a benchmark the Army Corps uses to manage the lake levels. When any lake reaches the trigger level, the amount of water allowed to pass through the dams will be restricted. “This cuts back hydroelectric power generation and slows the drop of the lakes,” Mr. Birdwell said.

Stan Simpson, water manager for the Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District, said current projections have the lakes hitting trigger level one in the last week of June. He predicted for the month of July hydroelectric power production would be 5,000 to 6,000 megawatt hours per week below average.Reduced hydroelectric power production due to the drought will drive up the cost of energy this summer, said Douglas Spencer from the Southeastern Power Administration.

EDIT

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/jun/07/drought-endangers-crops-and-electric-supply/

[kestrel91316]

1. Don't suppose it's occurred to the good people of SC to take

some initiative and cut the hell out of their electricity use.....

[hatrack]

2. No, they'll wait until the price 2X4 hits them across the forehead

And then they'll REALLY start to caterwaul.

[China_cat]

3. It wouldn't matter if we cut our use to zero

they'd find a way to charge us anyhow...at least here in the Charleston area. They raise rates every 2 years and we already pay the highest rates in the country.

Hey, we just paid our 'rain' tax if you want an idea of how dumb this state is. We get charged every year for being rained on.

[NNadir]

5. I believe their electricity use will be cut for them.

It's called brown outs and black outs.

Maybe they should build lots of windmills in the basins of the emptied reservoirs. They they can watch the water not flow and the wind not blow.

[T Wolf]

4. maybe they should pray for rain - certainly cannot depend on science nt