In 2006, M.Cubed prepared a report for the California Energy Commission that showed PacifiCorp, owner of the four dams on the Klamath River, would be financially indifferent between decommissioning or relicensing the projects with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That conclusion has since been reinforced by a 75% decline in replacement renewable power costs since then. That study opened the door for all parties to negotiate an agreement in 2010 to move forward with decommissioning.

In 2015, I wrote here about how that agreement was in peril. I tracked the progress of the situation in the comments in that post.

Fortunately, those hurdles were overcome and the decommissioning began this year in 2023. Copco 2 has now been completely removed and the project is moving on to the next dam.

After all four dams are taken we can see how successful this approach might be in restoring rivers on the West Coast.

This is the initial report on the economics of decommissioning versus relicense conducted for the California Energy Commission.