Exploring the Water-Thermoelectric Power Nexus
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138, Issue 5
Abstract
In 2005, thermoelectric power accounted for 41% of all freshwater withdrawals and roughly 3% of all consumptive use in the United States. With the demand for electricity projected to increase by 24% by 2035 concerns have been raised as to the availability of water for this growing industry; particularly, as the siting of several new thermoelectric facilities have been challenged on the basis of water supply. To address this concern we estimate the potential impact of water availability on future expansion of the thermoelectric power industry. Specifically, both the extent and location of thermoelectric developments at risk due to limited fresh water supply is estimated for a variety of alternative energy futures that differ according to the assumed mix of fuels utilized in new plant construction. According to the analyzed scenarios water consumption for thermoelectric power generation is projected to increase by 36–43% between 1995 and 2035, with much of this development expected to occur in basins with rapidly growing demands in the nonthermoelectric sectors. To identify where this thermoelectric development might be problematic, projected future thermoelectric production has been mapped onto basins subject to limited water availability. For the purposes of this study, water availability is defined as a local ratio of water demand to physical water supply. Results suggest that 10–19% of all new thermoelectric power production is likely to be sited in watersheds with limited surface and/or groundwater availability. These problematic watersheds are largely located in the West.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their appreciation for two anonymous reviews: their comments led to significant improvements to this paper. This effort was made possible through the support of Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program and DOE’s Office of Policy and International Affairs. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
References
Abeyta, O. (2002). “ACC nixes generating station near Eloy.” Tucson Citizen, Jan. 31.
Averyt, K. et al. (2011). Freshwater use by U.S. power plants: Electricity’s thirst for a precious resource, Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA.
Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2007). Gross domestic product by state, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC.
Curlee, T. R., and Sale, M. J. (2003). Water and energy security, Universities Council on Water Resources, Washington, DC.
Energy Information Administration. (2005). “Steam-electric plant operation and design report.” Rep., Washington, DC.
Energy Information Administration. (2010). “Net generation by state by type of producer by energy source.” Rep., Washington, DC.
Falkenmark, M., Lunduist, J., and Widstrand, C. (1989). “Macro-scale water scarcity requires micro-scale approaches: Aspects of vulnerability in semi-arid development.” Nat. Resour. Forum, 13, 258–267.
Feeley, T. J. et al. (2008). “Water: A critical resource in the thermoelectric power industry.” Energy, 33(1), 1–11.
General Accounting Office. (2003). “Freshwater supply: States’ views on how federal agencies could help them meet challenge of expected shortages.” Rep., Washington, DC.
Hurd, B., Leary, N., Jones, R., and Smith, J. (1999). “Relative regional vulnerability of water resources to climate change.” J. Am. Water Resour. As., 35(6), 1399–1409.
Hutson, S. S., Barber, N. L., Kenny, J. F., Linsey, K. S., Lumia, D. S., and Maupin, M. A. (2005). “Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005.”, Reston, VA.
“Idaho committee adopts moratorium on coal power.” (2006). Reuters News Service, Mar. 14.
Kenny, R. F., Barber, N. L., Hutson, S. S., Linsey, K. S., Lovelace, J. K., and Maupin, M. A. (2009). “Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005.”, Reston, VA, 52.
Macknick, J., Newmark, R., Heath, G., and Hallett, K. C. (2011). “A review of operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for electricity generating technologies.” Rep., National Energy Technology Laboratory, Golden, CO, 29.
National Energy Technology Laboratory. (2007). “2007 coal plant database.” 〈http://www.netl.doe.gov/energy-analyses/hold/technology.html〉 (Mar. 23, 2011).
National Energy Technology Laboratory. (2008). “Estimating freshwater needs to meet future thermoelectric generation requirements.” 2008 Update., Pittsburgh.
Reilly, T. E., Dennehy, K. F., Alley, W. M., and Cunningham, W. L. (2008). “Ground-water availability in the United States.”, Reston, VA, 70.
Roy, S. B., Ricci, P. F., Summers, K. V., Chung, C.-F., and Goldstein, R. A., (2005). “Evaluation of the sustainability of water withdrawals in the United States 1995 to 2025.” J. Am. Water. Resour. As., 41(5), 1091–1108.
SolarPower.org. (2010). “City of Kingman finds water solution for proposed wet-cooled CSP plant.” 〈http://www.solarpower.org/News/1071005-city-of-kingman-finds-water-solution-for-proposed-wet-cooled-csp-plant.aspx〉 (Jun. 16, 2012).
Solley, W. B., Merk, C. F., and Pierce, R. R., (1988). “Estimated use of water in the United States in 1985.”, RTston, VA.
Solley, W. B., Pierce, R. R., and Perlman, H. A. (1990). “Estimated use of water in the United States in 1990.”.
Solley, W. B., Pierce, R. R., and Perlman, H. A. (1995). “Estimated use of water in the United States in 1995.”, Reston, VA.
Sovacool, B. K. (2009). “Running on empty: The electricity-water nexus and the U.S. electric utility sector.” Energy Law J., 30(11), 11–51.
Sovacool, B. K., and Sovacool, K. E. (2009a). “Preventing national electricity-water crisis areas in the United States.” Columbia J. Environ. Law, 34(2), 333–393.
Sovacool, B. K., and Sovacool, K. E. (2009b). “Identifying future electricity–water tradeoffs in the United States.” Energy Policy, 37(7), 2763–2773.
Sterman, J. D. (2000). Business dynamics, systems thinking and modeling for a complex world, McGraw-Hill, Boston.
Stewart, D.W., A., Rea, and Wolock, D. M. (2006). “USGS stream gages linked to the medium resolution NHD.” Rep., U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.
Tetra Tech Inc. (2010). “Evaluating sustainability of projected water demands under future climate change scenarios.” Rep. Prepared for Natural Resource Defense Council, Washington, DC.
Tidwell, V. C., Kobos, P. H., Malczynski, L., Klise, G., and Hart, W. (2009). “Decision support for integrated water-energy planning.” SAND Rep., Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. (2005). “Water 2025: Preventing crises and conflict in the west.” Dept. of the Interior, Washington, DC.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2004). “Statistical abstract of the United States.” Washington, DC.
U.S. Dept. of Energy. (2007). “Energy demand on water resources: Report to Congress on the interdependency of energy and water.” 〈http://www.sandia.gov/energy-water/congress_report.htm〉 (Nov. 11, 2010).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). “Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated database (eGRID).” version 1.0, Washington, DC.
U.S. General Accountability Office. (2009). “Energy-water nexus: Improvements to federal water use data would increase understanding of trends in power plant water use.” Rep., Washington, DC.
U.S. Water News Online. (2002). “Idaho denies water rights request for power plants.” 〈http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcrights/2idaden8.html〉 (Aug. 2002).
U.S. Water News Online. (2003). “South Dakota governor calls for Missouri River meeting.” 〈http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcpolicy/3soudak8.html〉 (Aug. 2003).
U.S. Water Resources Council. (1978). “The nation’s water resources.” 1975–2000 Second National Water Assessment, Washington, DC.
Webber, M. E. (2008). “Catch-22: Water versus energy.” Sci. Am. Earth 3.0, 18(4)34–41.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138 • Issue 5 • September 2012
Pages: 491 - 501
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 20, 2011
Accepted: Dec 16, 2011
Published online: Dec 21, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.