Regional water consumption for hydro and thermal electricity generation in the United States

Lee, Uisung; Han, Jeongwoo; Elgowainy, Amgad; Wang, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.025

Cited by 71 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…power plants) using literature sources and government reports [9], heat budget models [10], and self-reported data [11]. One recent study from Argonne National Laboratory presents regional water consumption factors for North American Electric Reliability Corporation regions, accounting for 63% of US thermal generation in 2014 [12]. These studies represent valuable estimates for the electricity sector's water use, but they neglect water use occurring during production, processing, or transportation of fuels (referred to as 'upstream' stages in this letter).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A regional assessment of the water embedded in the US electricity system

Peer

Grubert

Sanders

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Water consumption from electricity systems can be large, and it varies greatly by region. As electricity systems change, understanding the implications for water demand is important, given differential water availability. This letter presents regional water consumption and consumptive intensities for the United States electric grid by region using a 2014 base year, based on the 26 regions in the Environmental Protection Agency's Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database. Estimates encompass operational (i.e. not embodied in fixed assets) water consumption from fuel extraction through conversion, calculated as the sum of induced water consumption for processes upstream of the point of generation (PoG) and water consumed at the PoG. Absolute water consumption and consumptive intensity is driven by thermal power plant cooling requirements. Regional consumption intensities vary by roughly a factor of 20. This variability is largely attributed to water consumption upstream of the PoG, particularly evaporation from reservoirs associated with hydroelectricity. Solar and wind generation, which are expected to continue to grow rapidly, consume very little water and could drive lower water consumption over time. As the electricity grid continues to change in response to policy, economic, and climatic drivers, understanding potential impacts on local water resources can inform changes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A regional assessment of the water embedded in the US electricity system

Peer

Grubert

Sanders

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…In this research, as adopted by [27], allocation factors based on economic benefits were used, as it facilitated evaluating the relative benefits of employed purposes in terms of monetized values. The study acknowledges that the economic benefits for each purpose can vary over time; however, using economic benefit for allocation of water consumption provides a consistent basis for all large number of hydropower dams in Ethiopia.…”

Section: Water Consumption By Multipurpose Reservoirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Consumption by Hydropower, Does It Worth Allocation under Ethiopian Context

Nurhusein¹

2020

JWARP

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The Ethiopian water policy strictly follows water allocation as a principle in setting out water consumption problems and demand projection. Hydroelectric power plants supply the larger share (88%) of the electricity in Ethiopia. 86% of Ethiopia's plan to 2020 energy supply is expected to be from hydropower. This paper defines water consumption in hydropower production as the quantity of water that leaves the analyzed projects (reservoir regulated hydropower projects) through evaporation. Water consumed by hydropower development has never been studied at a country scale. Thus, in attempting to understand water consumption by the hydropower development, this study will be the first to acknowledge the water consumption by all storage regulated hydropower plants developed in Ethiopia. While studying and designing reservoir regulated hydropower production, the overall effect of water consumption by the projects is assumed to be minimal; thus ignoring water allocation to hydropower projects is a common procedure in Ethiopia. In this study, for multipurpose projects, to identify the water consumption by hydropower against the other purpose (irrigation) consumption, water consumption factors based on economic benefits were used. The study has shown that the 14 existing and under construction reservoir regulated hydropower projects will consume 1.881 billion m 3 of water annually. This will make hydropower the second most water consuming water resource development next to Irrigation in the country. Together with the 22 upcoming projects the water consumption will be 3.756 billion m 3 /year. The results also show that hydropower consumption in the country will take an average of 2.41% of the total water stored in a reservoir. This value is in the range of nearly zero for power projects that use natural lakes as their reservoir (Tana Beles, Tis Abay I & II) and GERD to 10.64%. The total reservoir volume that will be created in the country after completion of the 22 planned projects is larger than 233 BCM, which is greater than the surface water volume the country possesses. This indicates that the future water consumption by hydropower plants shall How to cite this paper: Nurhusein, M.M. (2020) Water Consumption by Hydropower, Does It Worth Allocation under Ethiopian Context. Journal of Water Resource and Protectionbe revised in accordance with changes made in the final design of each planned projects. Nonetheless, this research provides scientific support for the argument that the production of hydroelectricity by reservoir regulated hydropower schemes, in countries like Ethiopia, is a water consumer. Thus, water allocation shall not ignore its demand.

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“…Much of this water is returned to its source at a warmer temperature after providing cooling services, but some is consumed in the process. Evaporation leads the generation of electricity at reservoir hydroelectric plants to entail considerable water usage [97]. 97 The water energy nexus is an area of increasing interest, and the necessity of both resources to life and economic activity render the convergence of related communications networks an intriguing opportunity.…”

Section: ____________________________________________________________mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaporation leads the generation of electricity at reservoir hydroelectric plants to entail considerable water usage [97]. 97 The water energy nexus is an area of increasing interest, and the necessity of both resources to life and economic activity render the convergence of related communications networks an intriguing opportunity. Droughts lead to curtailments in hydroelectric production, which must in turn be replaced with alternate forms of generation, often using natural gas [99].…”

Section: ____________________________________________________________mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…101 Therefore, opportunities for performance improvements through the convergence of communications infrastructure used by the two networks are legion and small improvements may be leveraged to effect large changes in agent coordination and system performance. 97 Torcellini, Long [98] finds that while evaporation at thermoelectric plants consumes 0.47 gal (1.8 L) of fresh water per kWh of electricity, reservoir hydroelectric plants average 18 gal (68 L) of fresh water per kWh of generation. 98 Droughts also lead to curtailment of thermal generation due to temperature limits on once-through cooling systems, which while no longer built in the U.S. are still in operation.…”

Section: Convergence Of Electricity and Transportation Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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