Water use in electricity generation for water-energy nexus analyses: The European case

Larsen, Morten Andreas Dahl; Drews, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.045

Cited by 117 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…water consumption physically in a region or water consumption per unit of electricity consumed in a region), and more regions (and see, e.g. [42,[46][47][48][49]) to expand on the existing literature on water for electricity.…”

Section: Policy Drivers and Implications Of Variability In Water Consmentioning

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: Policy Drivers and Implications Of Variability In Water Consmentioning

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 scarcity is serious in China, and per capita water resources are only 25% of the average world level [1]. The spatial and temporal distribution of water resources is extremely unbalanced [2]. Over 80% of water resources are reserved in southern China, while northern China sustains 47% of people with less than 20% of water resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Virtual Water Transfers in China’s Provincial Grids and Its Driving Analysis

et al. 2020

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In China, electricity transmission has increased rapidly over the past decades, and a large amount of virtual water is delivered from power generation provinces to load hubs. Understanding the evolution of the virtual water network embodied in electricity transmission is vital for mitigating water scarcity. However, previous studies mainly calculated the virtual water transferred in short periods in low-spatial resolution and failed to reveal driving forces of the evolution of virtual water. To solve this problem, we investigated the historical evolution of the virtual water network and virtual scarce water network embodied in interprovincial electricity transmission between 2005 and 2014. The driving forces of the evolution of virtual (scarce) water networks were analyzed at both national level and provincial level. The results show that the overall virtual water transmission and virtual scarce water transmission increased by five times, and the direction was mainly from southwest and northwest provinces to eastern provinces. Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou played an increasingly important role in virtual water exporting, and northwestern provinces had dominated the virtual scarce water exporting in the decade. At the national level, the increase of virtual water is mainly driven by the change of power generation mix and power transmission. At the provincial level, the increase of virtual water transmission in the largest virtual water exporter (Sichuan) is driven by the power generation mix and the power transmission, between 2005 and 2010, and 2010 and 2014, respectively. Considering the expanding of electricity transmission, the development of hydropower in the southwestern provinces and other renewable energies (solar and wind) in the northeastern provinces would overall mitigate the water scarcity in China.

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“…However, a much larger fraction of total freshwater withdrawal is used for energy production in industrialized countries, e.g., USA (50%), Western Europe (50%) and China (86%) [1,2]. The majority of withdrawal is used for cooling in thermal energy production [3]. The consumption of cooling water in thermal power plants depends highly of geographical location, cooling and fuel type [4] and is generally high for nuclear, coal and gas fired plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consumption of cooling water in thermal power plants depends highly of geographical location, cooling and fuel type [4] and is generally high for nuclear, coal and gas fired plants. The use of large amounts of fresh water for power production contributes to the increasing pressure on local water resources [2][3][4][5]. Reducing the freshwater withdrawal for cooling is expected to result in a substantial reduction in the water footprint of the energy sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane Capacitive Deionization for Cooling Water Intake Reduction in Thermal Power Plants: Lab to Pilot Scale Evaluation

et al. 2020

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Cooling of thermal power stations requires large amounts of surface water and contributes to the increasing pressure on water resources. Water use efficiency of recirculating cooling towers (CT) is often kept low to prevent scaling. Partial desalination of CT feed water with membrane capacitive deionization (MDCI) can improve water quality but also results in additional water loss. A response surface methodology is presented in which optimal process conditions of the MCDI-CT system are determined in view of water use efficiency and cost. Maximal water use efficiency at minimal cost is found for high adsorption current (2.5 A) and short adsorption time (900 s). Estimated cost for MCDI to realize maximal MCDI-CT water use efficiency is relatively high (2.0–3.1 € m−3evap), which limits applicability to plants facing high intake water costs or water uptake limitations. MCDI-CT pilot tests show that water use efficiency strongly depends on CT operational pH. To allow comparison among pilot test runs, simulation software is used to recalculate CaCO3 scaling and acid dosage for equal operational pH. Comparison at equal pH shows that MCDI technology allows a clear reduction of CT water consumption (74%–80%) and acid dosage (63%–80%) at pH 8.5.

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Water use in electricity generation for water-energy nexus analyses: The European case

Cited by 117 publications

References 28 publications

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

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

Evolution of Virtual Water Transfers in China’s Provincial Grids and Its Driving Analysis

Membrane Capacitive Deionization for Cooling Water Intake Reduction in Thermal Power Plants: Lab to Pilot Scale Evaluation

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