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Renewable Energy
The dry landscape of the American Southwest stands at the frontlines of the conflict between energy production and water demand in the United States. Climate change is steadily diminishing snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains, while the Colorado River transports less water than it did a decade ago. Lake Mead, which stores water from the river and is one of the largest reservoirs in the country, is 41 percent full, a low not seen since 1956. Power generation in the region is declining in tandem with the falling water levels, prompting federal managers to reduce Hoover Dam's hydroelectric generating capacity to 33 percent below its production capabilities. If the lake drops 25 feet more, it will not have enough water to power the dam's generators, shutting down one of the largest power plants in the West.
Meanwhile, in the competition between energy and water, California, Nevada and Arizona are grappling with the uncertain scenarios and tradeoffs of solar power. Developers have proposed nearly 200 solar plants, raising concern that if the plants use conventional cooling systems, billions of gallons of water will be needed. Solar generating plants that use conventional cooling technology use two to three times as much water as a coal-fired power plants. Newer technology that relies on air for cooling uses much less water but is also less efficient in generating power, thus requiring more land. The Congressional Research Service recently estimated that solar power plants cooled with water could generate electricity equal to more than 50 large coal-fired utilities, but would also require 164 billion gallons of water annually, an enormous amount in the driest region in the country.
Feature Stories
The falling price of photovoltaic panels and public concerns about aquifers and rivers in the western United States are boosting solar energy technologies that save water. In December, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) approved a 300-megawatt (MW) solar energy project on public land in southwestern Arizona on condition that the developer changes the [...]
The U.S. government is in the process of designating more than 6,000 hectacres of federal land for solar energy development. As companies line up to submit projects, some valley residents are questioning the centralized model of energy generation and are, instead, trying to shape an independent energy future.
California’s latest proposed desert solar power plant could compromise desert habitat.
Multimedia
Preliminary report describes an infant cellulosic biofuels industry with a mandate to grow up fast.
Production of ethanol, the most commonly used biofuel, has prompted concerns about water use and food supply.
A breakdown of gallons of water used by transportation fuels per mile.
California’s latest proposed desert solar power plant could compromise desert habitat.
Flushing For Fuel: Wastewater grows energy-rich plants and algae.
Renewable Stories
Mechanical parts from the 1950s are being replaced with digital controls at three dams.
A negotiated agreement ends a three-year conflict between North Carolina and South Carolina over the Catawba and Yadkin rivers.
For years, the state took as much water as it could from Lake Mead; now it plans to leave some in the reservoir.
The study responds to the growing private sector interest in the Lower Mekong Basin.
The country’s first minister says Scotland could become the ‘world’s first hydro-economy.’
The 600 MW project is the third on the river scrapped because of environmental and religious pressure.
The country’s energy ambitions could intensify water competition in Central Asia.
As the Southeast Asian country battles with climate change, it looks to use less hydropower.
India strives to redirect water, currently used for Pakistani agriculture, on the Kishanganga River for 330 megawatts.
While the superpower announces ambitious sustainability goals, it faces droughts and intensive energy needs.
Whether, where, and how to build new dams: the old Western debate.
Low reservoir levels have caused several hydroelectric plants to shut down or cut operations in the Southeast Asian country.
Less precipitation + more extreme droughts = electricity shortages.
In Chile’s Trackless Mountain Wilderness, A Clash Between Pristine Rivers and Hydropower Prospects
Brazil’s government issued an environmental license for the Belo Monte dam on an Amazon tributary.
New legislation could extend government control over private freshwater resources.
New initiative will decrease the country’s reliance on oil for its electrical needs.
Yunnan Province is a microcosm of China’s freshwater challenges.
Severe drought is squeezing the country’s energy supply.
The Turkish government plans to move forward with the dam despite international opposition.
Government
- California Energy Commission Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
- California Energy Commission Ivanpah Solar Electric Genreating System: Presiding Member’s Proposed Decision (2010)
- Energy Information Administration Electric Power Monthly Report
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Fuel from the Sky: Solar Power’s Potential for Western Energy Supply (2002)
- Nicole T. Carter and Richard Campbell, Congressional Research Service Water Issues of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Electricity in the U.S. Southwest (2009)
- Office of Senator Jon Kyl, Arizona Water Policy Considerations, Deploying Solar Power in the State of Arizona: A Brief Overview of the Solar-Water Nexus (2010)
- Senator John Kyl Report on Water Use By Solar Thermal Plants
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Concentrating Solar Power Commercial Application Study: Reducing Water Consumption of Concentrating Solar Power Electricity Generation: Report to Congress
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Demands on Water Resources: Report to Congress on the Interdependency of Energy and Water (December 2006)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) The Wind/Water Nexus. Wind Powering America Fact Sheet Series (2006)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind and Water Program:Advantages and Challenges of Wind Energy
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (DOE, EERE) Wind & Water Power Program
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Electric Power Annual Summary Statistics (2008)
Media
- Ecologist Solar Power – The Hidden Threat to Water Supplies, August 18, 2010
- GreenTech Media Solar Reserve’s Salty Solution
- Industrial Fuels and Power Complex Relationship Between Power and Water, April 15, 2010
- SolarReport Solar News
- SunPluggers Home and Business Solar News
- The Arizona Republic Solar Power Water Supply Worries, January 17, 2010
- The New York Times Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water (September 29, 2009)
- YubaNet California Energy Commission Approves First Solar plant
Institutes
- Basin and Range Watch Non-profit Oversight Group
- Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) Concentrated Solar Power: Fact Sheet (2009)
- Great Lakes Commission State and Provincial Land-Based Wind Farm Sitting Policy in the Great Lakes Region: Summary and Analysis (2010)
- International Energy Agency (IEA) Renewable Energy Essentials: Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (2009)
- NRDC Switchboard At the Confluence of Water Use and Energy Production
- Solar Thermal World Solar Trade Association
- The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Concentrating Solar Power Now: Clean Energy for Sustainable Development
Academia
- Holly Campbell, Abby P. Metzger, Deidra Spencer, Stacey Miller and Erika Allen Wolters Here Comes the Sun: Solar Thermal in the Mojave Desert—Carbon Reduction or Loss of Sequestration? (2009)
- Joe Gelt, Arizona Water Resource: The University of Arizona Clean, Green Solar Power Falls Short in Achieving Water Efficiency (2008)
- Martin Pasqualetti and Scott Kelley, Arizona Water Institute The Water Costs of Electricity in Arizona
- Theocharis Tsoutsos, Niki Frantzeskaki, and Vassilis Gekas- Energy Policy 33 Environmental Impacts From the Solar Energy Technologies (2005)
