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Water worries shape local energy decisions: As power companies pull back on plans for plants that require scarce resource, renewable sources see an opening

Posted by: Maven on March 26, 2009 at 6:10 am

From the Wall Street Journal:

Last month, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a utility that provides power to mostly rural areas, dropped plans to build a coal-fired power plant in southeast Colorado. One reason: It would have consumed massive amounts of water in an already parched region. Instead, the utility will conduct a study to see whether it can help customers cut energy use so a big new power plant won’t be needed anytime soon.

Such U-turns are happening with increasing frequency, particularly in the arid West, as mounting concerns about water begin to shape local energy decisions. In some cases, power companies are pulling back from plans to build traditional power plants that require steady streams of water to operate. In others, renewable-energy projects such as wind farms or solar arrays are gaining momentum because their water needs are minimal.

Tri-State, for example, announced plans this week to build a 500,000-solar-panel project in northeast New Mexico in partnership with First Solar Inc. “There’s no water requirement with solar,” said Mac McLennan, senior vice president for Tri-State, based in Westminster, Colo.

And advocates for alternative energy are discovering that water issues may prove to be as important a selling point for the industry as reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. “The more we wean energy companies off consumptive use of water, the better for everyone,” said Craig Cox, executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, a Colorado trade group that represents power-project developers.

The electric-power industry accounts for nearly half of all water withdrawals in the U.S., with agricultural irrigation coming in a distant second at about 35%. Even though most of the water used by the power sector eventually is returned to waterways or the ground, 2% to 3% is lost through evaporation, amounting to 1.6 trillion to 1.7 trillion gallons a year that might otherwise enhance fisheries or recharge aquifers, according to a Department of Energy study.

Read more from the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.

March 26, 2009 · Filed Under Energy & Water

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