POWER November 2020 - 30

ENERGY-WATER NEXUS
How the Clean Energy Transition Is
Intensifying the Energy-Water Nexus
Decarbonization is posing a fundamental dilemma that could have widespread serious
implications for the power sector: the clean energy transition, if not properly
managed, could increase water stress, or be limited by it.
Sonal Patel
T
he emphasis on decarbonization
over the past decade has prompted
intense scrutiny of how the world
can ramp up its energy consumption while
reducing the impacts of global warming.
However, sustainability efforts have mostly
been centered on tamping down air pollution,
and less so on water conservation.
While several countries and companies
have set objectives-for example, actions
to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions (GHGs) to meet the 2015 Paris
Climate Agreement-few mitigation and
adaptation strategies underscore resilient
water management as a goal and a
solution to ensure accessibility to water
in quantity and quality, as the Stockholm
International Water Institute (SIWI) noted
at COP25 last December.
SIWI warned that a failure to address
complex climate change and water availability
feedback loops could have myriad
implications for an array of water-intensive
economic sectors, including for energy
and agriculture. But in a March 2020
report, the International Energy Agency
(IEA) went further, suggesting the fuels
and technologies used to achieve the
clean energy transition could increase
water stress, and even be limited by it, if
they are not properly managed.
The IEA laid out the problem starkly.
Even if the world achieves the IEA's longtouted
Sustainable Development Scenario
(SDS)-which it describes as an
" ambitious and pragmatic " vision to hold
global average temperatures to below 1.5
degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels-an
integrated approach that involves
delivering energy for all could result in
water withdrawals by 2030 that would
be 20% lower than today. The increased
deployment of solar PV and wind, a shift
away from coal-fired power generation,
and a greater focus on energy efficiency
all contribute to this decline.
But, under the same SDS, water consumption
would move in the opposite
direction-increasing by a stunning 50%
30
1. Global water withdrawal (left) and consumption (right) in the energy sector by fuel type
in the International Energy Agency's Sustainable Development Scenario, 2016-2030. Source:
IEA, Global water consumption in the energy sector by fuel type in the Sustainable Development
Scenario, 2016-2030, IEA, Paris
compared to today, driven upward by other
clean energy technologies. While the bulk
of the increase is related to biofuels, which
are liquid fuels derived from biomass and
used as alternatives to fossil-based transportation
fuels, increased water consumption
under the SDS is also attributed to
higher deployment of concentrating solar
power (CSP); carbon capture, utilization,
and storage; and nuclear power (Figure 1).
" Though water withdrawals are the first
limit for energy production when water
availability is constrained, water consumption-the
volume that is withdrawn but
not returned to the source-reduces the
overall amount of water available to satisfy
all users, " explained Molly Walton, an IEA
energy analyst.
An Enduring Dilemma
The IEA's finding is another complicating
factor for the power sector, where the
pervasive and
complex
year, and more than 30% of global capacity
faces scarcity for five or more
months a year.
In India, this issue has rattled energy seconnection-or
" nexus " -between
energy and water resources
has long been recognized as a
dilemma. Historically, concerns within the
industry have mostly focused on how thermoelectric
power generation-especially in
arid regions-can manage water resource
scarcity, variability, quality, and uncertainty.
Those concerns endure. As a May
2020 study published by researchers
at the University of California, Berkeley
points out, 43% of the current installed
global coal-fired power capacity is located
within regions that now experience
water scarcity for at least one month a
www.powermag.com
curity and has proven costly. According to
the World Research Institute, 40% of the
nation's power plants are located in waterscarce
areas. The organization found that
between 2013 and 2016, 14 of India's 20
largest thermal utilities experienced at least
one shutdown owing to water shortages,
costing companies $1.4 billion. China, too,
has several coal plants that suffer extreme
water stress, which is why the nation is implementing
stricter water resource management.
Last year, for example, it set a cap on
water use by coal plants that is estimated to
increase water use efficiency by up to 20%.
In the U.S., most thermoelectric plants
that use freshwater are in " water-abundant "
regions, but 13% are located in
water-stressed regions, as an October
2020-published study from three national
laboratories suggests. Still, the uncertainty
posed by water stress is now being
flagged as a key sustainability risk factor.
Ratings agency Moody's this August,
for example, warned that the nation's
nuclear operators faced growing credit
risks associated with extreme weather
events, including drought. " Parts of the
Midwest and southern Florida face the
highest levels of heat stress, while the
Rocky Mountain region and California
face the greatest uncertainty regarding
long-term water supplies, " said David
Kamran, a Moody's analyst. " We count
POWER | November 2020
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POWER November 2020

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