Renewable Energy Challenges from El Niño
Low rainfall in New Zealand and Costa Rica poses a challenge for their hydroelectric power efforts. U.S. wind energy generation dips as well.
Today, a Reuters analysis piece said that New Zealand’s electricity generation is tipping back toward fossil fuels during lower-than-average rainfall this summer. Hydroelectric power is typically more than half of the country’s electricity, but it dipped about 10% during this summer’s drought, with fossil fuels and other sources making up the difference. New Zealand is set to reverse its 2018 ban on “offshore oil and gas exploration” and will seek to make importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) easier, according to a separate Reuters article yesterday.
Costa Rica, a country well-known for their high percentage of renewable energy, is being challenged by climate issues. Much of the country’s electricity comes from hydroelectric power and is offset by wind energy when there is less water. An article in The Week last April said last year’s El Niño weather system caused lower rainfall and warmer weather. “Hydropower reservoirs suffered a 16% reduction in inflow,” according to Kenneth Lobo Méndez, a director of planning and sustainability in electricity management, in an interview. The country is now seeking to further "diversify" its electricity sources to other renewable options, such as solar power, wind energy, and geothermal energy.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the United States reported that “U.S. electricity generation from wind turbines decreased for the first time since the mid-1990s in 2023 despite the addition of 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity last year.” Wind energy production in the United States has increased each year since 2000, until 2023 when it dipped below the previous year’s production. The lower 2023 number is due mostly to less wind in the Midwest. According to an analysis in the Financial Times, “Slower wind speeds from the naturally occurring El Niño weather phenomenon drove lower generation.”
Executives in the renewable energy sector said in interviews that while the dip in wind power generation was concerning, the bigger changes to watch are a trend toward solar as less dependent on climate than wind and the infrastructure issues that make it difficult to move the generated power around to where it’s needed. Jeff Clark, president of the Advanced Power Alliance said he was “more concerned that when we have the wind available, we are not taking full advantage of the wind energy . . . because of our lack of infrastructure.”
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NOTES
New Zealand:
Costa Rica:
https://theweek.com/environment/costa-rica-renewable-energy-success-could-be-under-threat
U.S.:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61943
https://www.ft.com/content/33897169-4ca2-49ad-867a-b51dea461d7c