Changing Electric Grid May Make Dams Expendable — And Help Save Salmon

"PASCO, Wash. -- The fate of the Northwest salmon may be decided by the way you use your heater and your air conditioner.

In the near future, the U.S. electric grid will be able to digitally manage the vast Northwest hydroelectric network in a way unimaginable just a few years ago. With consent from customers, it will be able to adjust the heaters and air conditioners of millions of homes and buildings, or tap into the batteries of electric cars or other smart appliances.

It’s a revolutionary change for the Northwest economy, the energy market, and the Columbia Basin dam system and the salmon that migrate through it."

Rocky Barker reports for the Idaho Statesman August 5, 2017.