Changing the spatial location of electricity generation to increase water availability in areas with drought: a feasibility study and quantification of air quality impacts in Texas

Abstract

The feasibility, cost, and air quality impacts of using electrical grids to shift water use from drought-stricken regions to areas with more water availability were examined. Power plant cooling represents a large portion of freshwater withdrawals in the United States, and shifting where electricity generation occurs can allow the grid to act as a virtual water pipeline, increasing water availability in regions with drought by reducing water consumption and withdrawals for power generation. During a 2006 drought, shifting electricity generation out of the most impacted areas of South Texas (∼10% of base case generation) to other parts of the grid would have been feasible using transmission and power generation available at the time, and some areas would experience changes in air quality. Although expensive, drought-based electricity dispatch is a potential parallel strategy that can be faster to implement than other infrastructure changes, such as air cooling or water pipelines.

Response of electricity sector air pollution emissions to drought conditions in the western United States

“…Past studies have coupled models of surface hydrology, streamflow temperature, and power generation to explore how changes in streamflow and river temperatures affect electricity generation from hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants in current and future climates (van Vliet et al 2012, 2016b, Bartos and Chester 2015, Voisin et al 2016, Miara et al 2017. Other studies used a generation expansion planning model to explore the tradeoffs between water withdrawals, air quality, and electricity generation in the context of planning future generation capacity , or applied a plant-scale power generation model over a region to explore the optimal changes in electricity dispatch during droughts (Pacsi et al 2013). These modeling approaches tend to focus on either the hydrologic risks faced by individual power plants, or the optimal regional operations of electricity systems in response to water resources constraints.…”

US Power Production at Risk from Water Stress in a Changing Climate

“…Droughts-induced 17 , 18 water scarcity and heat-waves driven warm water have already impacted power productions in the several parts of US, including Texas 18 , 19 and California 20 . Future thermoelectric power production will depend on the availability of sufficient water resources, which will directly be impacted under climate change 6 , 13 , 21 – 27 .…”

Electricity generation

“…A linear programming (LP) approach was used that allowed for all constraints to be met, including inequalities. More information on the implementation of this electricity generation model in ERCOT is available in prior publications (Alhajeri et al 2011a;Pacsi et al 2013). As shown in (Venkatesh et al 2012).…”