Integrated approaches to addressing thirsty energy

May 20th, 2014

Antonia Sohns, World Bank, United States

This year has been the driest in record1 in California, USA and in the contiguous United States, January marked the driest month2 since 2003 and the fifth driest since records began in 1880. The governor3 declared a state of emergency, hence Californians are concerned about having enough water to meet their needs – be it farmers, ranchers, municipalities, or energy companies.

Such variability in water supply and the quality of water resources is becoming increasingly recognized as a chief constraint for many businesses around the world, in particular energy companies. In 2013, CDP Global Water Report4 found that 82 percent of energy companies and 73 percent of power utility companies indicate that water is a substantive risk to business operations. In addition, 59 percent of energy companies and 67 percent of power utility companies have experienced water-related business impacts in the past five years. This report adds to the mounting evidence that energy and water resources must be planned in an integrated manner.

In order to help countries integrate water constraints into the energy sector and better address water and energy challenges, the World Bank has launched the Thirsty Energy initiative.5 Thirsty Energy works to prepare countries for an uncertain future by:

Identifying synergies and quantifying tradeoffs between energy development plans and water use;

Piloting cross-sectoral planning to ensure sustainability of energy and water investments; and

Designing assessment tools and management frameworks to help governments coordinate decision-making.

With the energy sector as an entry point, initial workhas commenced in South Africa, where Thirsty Energy is working with its partners to integrate water as a constraining factor and water-related costs into the existing energy optimization model for South Africa (TIMES/MARKAL – SATIM). The Energy Research Center (ERC) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has been developing and maintaining this model for many years, and it has informed energy, water and climate policies. UCT and the Bank will be partnering with the ERC to adjust their analytic tools to better incorporate water constraints. Specifically, Thirsty Energy seeks to include water in the model by taking into account the regional and temporal differences in demand and supply of energy and water resources, and include the price of water in the optimization.

In addition to work in South Africa, Thirsty Energy has also begun dialogues with partners in China, Morocco, and Brazil. Each country faces unique water and energy challenges, and therefore, it is expected that Thirsty Energy’s work will produce findings that will be applicable in many different countries’ climates and contexts.

Beyond modelling, Thirsty Energy seeks to engage diverse partners and to share knowledge and best practices. Operators may employ a range of technical approaches to reduce water use in power plants and exploit the benefits of possible synergies in water and energy, such as cooling systems requiring limited amounts of water; decreasing the waste heat of the plant and subsequently decreasing the cooling needs; or using alternative water sources, therefore displacing freshwater requirements.

For example, Power Plant Villa de Reyes in San Luis Potosi, Mexico has been using treated wastewater from the Tenorio wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in its cooling towers instead of freshwater for the last six years. This integrated approach, in this case known as Project Tenorio6, is the first of its kind in Mexico. Nearly all of the WWTP’s operational costs are covered from this revenue stream, and the power plant has a secure water source that is 33% cheaper than groundwater in the area. The power plant’s use of reclaimed water has the additional environmental benefit of increasing aquifer sustainability, as it has reduced groundwater extractions by at least 48 million cubic metres over the lifetime of its operations.

Treated wastewater has been used to reduce the water requirements of power plants in several other countries as well, as water supply becomes more variable or disappears. Reclaimed water is becoming a more secure resource in certain contexts. According to the Argonne National Laboratory, around 50 power plants7 are using treated wastewater for cooling in order to adapt to water shortages. In Arizona, the Palo Verde nuclear power plant8 has been relying on treated wastewater since it began operating in 1986, as the climate is very arid and water allocation is limited. Such integrated approaches are critical to meet the growing energy and water challenges.

To ensure Thirsty Energy’s findings are practical and viable, it has established a Private Sector Reference Group (PSRG) to share expertise and knowledge. Abengoa, Alstom, Veolia and EDF have already joined.

With its partners, Thirsty Energy seeks to develop modelling and management frameworks to increase operations’ efficiency, reduce water use and impacts in water quality, embolden integrated planning, and enhance technology development and adoption. Technical solutions play a critical role in addressing water and energy challenges, as does institutional reform and guidance from policy is critical for sound planning and smart investments. Both will be made more robust if they are supported by projections derived from models, as that will ensure power plants are more strategically located and that technologies are implemented that increase energy efficiency.

Climate change and future growth will complicate any solutions, but it is critical that all stakeholders act now to explore tradeoffs and potential synergies in water and energy development, and develop tools and approaches that will work to encourage sustainable development and security into the future.

References:

Islam, Shafiqul and Lawrence Susskind. Managing Drought in California: A Non-Zero Sum Approach. March 19, 2014. The World Bank. http://blogs.worldbank.org/water/managing-drought-california-non-zero-sum-approach Neuhauser, Alan. January was 4th Warmest, 5th Driest on Record, NOAA Finds. February 20, 2014. U.S. News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/02/20/january-was-4th-warmest-5th-driest-on-record-noaa-finds Chappell, Bill. California’s Governor Declares Drought State of Emergency. National Public Radio.January 17, 2014. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/17/263529525/california-s-governor-declares-drought-state-of-emergency CDP Global Water Report 2013. Moving Beyond Business as Usual. Deloitte Consulting LLP. https://www.cdp.net/CDPResults/CDP-Global-Water-Report-2013.pdf Thirsty Energy initiative, The World Bank. www.worldbank.org/thirstyenergy Rojas, Alberto, et al. Tenorio Project: A Successful Story of Sustainable Development. 2012. http://www.reclaimedwater.net/data/files/240.pdf Galbraith, Kate. Treated Wastewater for Thirsty Power Plants. The New York Times. November 4, 2008; http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/treated-wastewater-for-thirsty-power-plants/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=2 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1. http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/palo1.html

Antonia Sohns is a Water and Energy Analyst working on the Thirsty Energy initiative at the World Bank. Previously, she interned with the White House Domestic Policy Council. Sohns holds an MSc from the University of Oxford in Water Science, Policy and Management, and a BS in Earth Systems from Stanford University. She has worked for non-governmental organizations in Thailand and Washington, D.C.

The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here.