Idaho Power tells Senate committee cloud-seeding program aims to add low-cost water for hydropower, agriculture

Idaho Power staff briefed an Idaho Senate committee on the company’s collaborative cloud-seeding program and said the effort is intended to augment winter snowpack, boosting water supply for irrigation, aquifer recharge, recreation, fish and hydropower generation.

Cresta Davis, senior manager for water resources at Idaho Power, described the utility’s service area and energy portfolio and framed cloud seeding as a water-management tool. "When we talk about cloud seeding in Idaho, we are talking specifically about snowpack enhancement," Davis said.

Davis summarized the program’s history and current scale. The company operated pilot programs beginning in the 1990s, began an operational program in the Payette River Basin in 2003, and expanded partnerships with the High Country RC&D and others through the 2010s. As of 2024 the program included 63 remote ground generators and three aircraft; Idaho Power also added liquid-propane generators to the Payette Basin in 2024. Davis said the company’s 2024 energy mix was about 40% hydroelectric and about 20% natural gas, and that hydropower remains foundational to the company’s system.

Idaho Power presented basin-level benefit…