The California Department of Water Resources reported up to 3,079 megawatts of emergency and temporary natural-gas resources and extreme-event contracts for 2026 in an update presented to the California Energy Commission on Oct. 19.
The figure comes from the sixteenth quarterly update on the Electricity Supply Strategic Reliability Reserve Program, a state program intended to provide resources during extreme grid events. The presentation’s investment table does not show how much of that capacity was dispatched, available at a given time or currently under contract.
DWR’s presentation also reported 82.4 megawatts of temporary diesel-generator capacity in 2022 and zero in 2023. The agency said the diesel procurement program ended early in favor of lower-emission resources, according to the update. The figures describe the reserve portfolio; they do not establish its operating costs, performance or emissions in use.
DWR expects to provide its next quarterly update in the first quarter of 2027.
