Development of water demand coefficients for power generation from renewable energy technologies

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Ali, Babkir
  • Kumar, Amit

• Renewable energy technology-based power generation is considered to be environmentally friendly and to have a low life cycle greenhouse gas emissions footprint. However, the life cycle water footprint of renewable energy technology-based power generation needs to be assessed. The objective of this study is to develop life cycle water footprints for renewable energy technology-based power generation pathways. Water demand is evaluated through consumption and withdrawals coefficients developed in this study. Sixty renewable energy technology-based power generation pathways were developed for a comprehensive comparative assessment of water footprints. The pathways were based on the use of biomass, nuclear, solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and geothermal as the source of energy. During the complete life cycle, power generation from bio-oil extracted from wood chips, a biomass source, was found to have the highest water demand footprint and wind power the lowest. During the complete life cycle, the water demand coefficients for biomass-based power generation pathways range from 260 – 1289 litres of water per kilowatt hour and for nuclear energy pathways from 0.48 – 179 litres of water per kilowatt hour. The water demand for power generation from solar energy-based pathways ranges from 0.02 – 4.39 litres of water per kilowatt hour, for geothermal pathways from 0.04 – 1.94 litres of water per kilowatt hour, and for wind from 0.005 – 0.104 litres of water per kilowatt hour. A sensitivity analysis was conducted with varying conversion efficiencies to evaluate the impact of power plant performance on water demand. Cooling systems used in power generation plants were also studied and include once-through, recirculating, dry, and hybrid cooling. When only the power generation stage is considered, hydroelectricity and nuclear power generation with once-through cooling systems showed the highest water consumption (68 litres of water per kilowatt hour) and water withdrawals coefficients (178 litres of water per kilowatt hour), respectively.

• Date created

  2017-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Water-Energy Nexus
  • Sustainability
  • Power Generation
  • Life Cycle
  • Water Footprint
  • Renewable Energy

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-99tv-yv73

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International