TY - JOUR
T1 - The 'thirsty' water-electricity nexus
T2 - Field data on the scale and seasonality of thermoelectric power generation's water intensity in China
AU - Jiang, Daqian
AU - Ramaswami, Anu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - There is a lack of field data on the water withdrawal and consumption intensity of thermoelectric power plants in China. With China's ambitious electricity capacity expansion and ever-growing water deficit, the overlooked water dimension of thermoelectric power generation could soon have significant water sustainability implications, and field data on water intensity of thermoelectric power plants will be essential to further our understanding of China's water-electricity nexus. To address this knowledge gap, this paper presents field data on the water withdrawal intensity and water balance of 19 coal-fired power plants in Shandong, China, categorized by different generator capacities (<100 MW∼>600 MW) and boiler technologies (subcritical, supercritical and ultra supercritical). This paper suggests that the annual average water withdrawal intensity of coal-fired power plants in Shandong (1.50-3.75 L kWh-1) is within the range of values reported for other countries, and that the distinction between water withdrawal and water consumption effectively vanishes since very little water is returned from withdrawal. This paper also suggests that there is quite significant seasonality in power plants' water intensity whereby the water intensity in July can be approximately 15-28% higher than the annual average. The seasonality is on a similar scale across all generator capacities, except for a small co-generation plant (<100 MW), which had substantially lower water intensity in January when a heat exchanger was used to provide heating.
AB - There is a lack of field data on the water withdrawal and consumption intensity of thermoelectric power plants in China. With China's ambitious electricity capacity expansion and ever-growing water deficit, the overlooked water dimension of thermoelectric power generation could soon have significant water sustainability implications, and field data on water intensity of thermoelectric power plants will be essential to further our understanding of China's water-electricity nexus. To address this knowledge gap, this paper presents field data on the water withdrawal intensity and water balance of 19 coal-fired power plants in Shandong, China, categorized by different generator capacities (<100 MW∼>600 MW) and boiler technologies (subcritical, supercritical and ultra supercritical). This paper suggests that the annual average water withdrawal intensity of coal-fired power plants in Shandong (1.50-3.75 L kWh-1) is within the range of values reported for other countries, and that the distinction between water withdrawal and water consumption effectively vanishes since very little water is returned from withdrawal. This paper also suggests that there is quite significant seasonality in power plants' water intensity whereby the water intensity in July can be approximately 15-28% higher than the annual average. The seasonality is on a similar scale across all generator capacities, except for a small co-generation plant (<100 MW), which had substantially lower water intensity in January when a heat exchanger was used to provide heating.
KW - China
KW - seasonality
KW - thermoelectric power plants
KW - water consumption
KW - water intensity
KW - water withdrawal
KW - water-electricity nexus
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U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/10/2/024015
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/10/2/024015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84923784782
SN - 1748-9318
VL - 10
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
IS - 2
M1 - 024015
ER -