Sandia National Laboratories
Vincent Tidwell
PO Box 5800; MS 1137
Albuquerque, NM 87185
(505)844-6025
vctidwe@sandia.gov
| Organization | Point of Contact |
|---|---|
| Argonne National Laboratory | John Gasper |
| Electric Power Research Institute | Robert Goldstein |
| Idaho National Laboratory | Gerald Sehlke |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory | Jordan Macknick |
| Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | Mark Wigmosta |
| University of Texas | Michael Webber |
Water and energy are co-dependent. Water is used directly in hydroelectric power generation and is used extensively for thermoelectric power plant cooling and air emissions control. Water is also needed for energy-resource extraction, refining, and processing. Altogether, the energy sector accounts for approximately 41 percent of daily fresh water withdrawals and 49 percent of total overall daily water withdrawals in the U.S. Likewise, significant energy is expended to extract, convey, treat and deliver water and waste water.
The Energy Information Administration projects the U.S. population will grow by 70 million people by the year 2030, increasing electric power demand by 50 percent and transportation fuel demand by 30 percent. The emerging electric power generation and transportation fuel needs will require more water—the extent depending on the type and number of power plants built, cooling technologies used, air and carbon emission requirements, and the type and quantity of transportation fuels used. Competing and growing demands for our nation’s finite fresh water resources are also projected for the municipal and industrial sectors. This growth in water demand is occurring at a time when the nation’s fresh water supplies are seeing increasing stress from limitations of surface-water storage capacity, increasing depletion and degradation of ground water supplies, increasing demands for the use of surface water for in-stream ecological and environmental uses, and the uncertainty about the impact of climate variability on future water fresh surface and ground water resources.
The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity has initiated a $60M program to assist the electric industry in interconnection-level analysis and planning. The objective of this effort is to facilitate the development or strengthening of capabilities in each of the three interconnections serving the lower 48 states of the United States, to prepare analyses of transmission requirements under a broad range of alternative futures and develop long-term interconnection-wide transmission expansion plans. The interconnections are the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection. One element of this program address the support and development of an integrated energy-water Decision Support System (DSS) that will enable planners in the Western and Texas Interconnections to analyze the potential implications of water stress for transmission and resource planning (the Eastern Interconnection is not participating in this element).
Support for the integrated energy-water planning effort is lead by Sandia National Laboratories and supported by Argonne National Laboratory, Electric Power Research Institute, Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the University of Texas. Specific objective include:
Beyond efforts toward project management and reporting, eight additional project tasks are focused on the development of the Energy-Water DSS. The initial foundation for this tool is Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) Energy-Power-Water Simulation (EPWSim) model. This existing framework provides an interactive environment for exploring trade-offs, and “best” alternatives among a broad list of energy/water options and objectives. The framework currently supports prototype modules for calculating thermoelectric power demand and related water use; water demand from competing use sectors; surface and groundwater availability, and; an energy for water calculator. Each of these modules will be updated and expanded, while additional process modules will be added.
Development of the DSS will be conducted in close cooperation with WECC, WGA, ERCOT and their stakeholder teams. To enhance transparency and consensus a Collaborative Modeling Team (CMT) will be assembled to oversee development of the Energy-Water DSS. Team membership will include a subgroup of our interconnection partners. The CMT will meet on a periodic basis with our project modelers to define: 1) key metrics and decision variable for inclusion in the DSS; 2) vet process models; 3) vet data, water use factors, etc; 4) jointly review the models and conduct calibration analyses; and 5) conduct desired scenario analyses.
The first module of the DSS calculates water withdrawals and consumption for current and projected thermoelectric power generation. Input to the model are WECC and ERCOT’s transmission planning results. Water demands are calculated according to power plant capacity, production, type of plant, type of cooling, and type of emissions control. Accompanying parasitic energy loads imposed by emission controls and water-conserving cooling technologies are also calculated. Using information on population growth, Gross State Product and historical water use trends, future water demands are calculated for competing water use sectors (municipal, industrial, agriculture, mining and livestock). The source of the withdrawal (surface water, groundwater, or non-potable water) is tracked as well as the return flows.
The DSS is also fitted with a water availability model that provides a regional measure of water supply for surface water, groundwater, and non-potable resources. The model has two principle components, “wet” and “paper” water. Wet water provides a measure of the physical water available in a basin for use, while paper water addresses the institutional controls (policies) that define access to the water. The model combines historical gauge data and other information to project surface and groundwater availability.
The water demand and availability modules are accompanied by additional process models to further resolve water availability. The first of these is an environmental controls model for identification and assessment of potential environmental risks associated with growing water use. A climate change calculator is included for estimating potential changes in water availability. This will include two components – a climate downscaling model to provide future climate forcing data for the watershed model and a dynamic large-scale watershed model to project related changes to water availability. Beyond the scarcity of water, information concerning the potential cost of water for a new withdrawal is calculated including water rights purchase, value of goods and their water intensity, and cost of treating non-potable water. Finally, an energy for water calculator is included to calculate electricity demand to pump, convey, treat (both primary and waste water), and distribute water.
The DSS is fitted with an interface that serves as the “dashboard” controlling scenario makeup, simulation operations, and the rendering of results. This dashboard provides an interactive, real-time environment comprised of slider bars, buttons and switches for changing key input variables, and real-time output graphs, tables, and geospatial maps for displaying results. The DSS operates on a laptop computer taking only few seconds to accomplish a simulation. The DSS can be distributed to users on CD or via download from the internet.
A key deliverable from this project is an integrated Energy-Water DSS that will enable planners in the Western and Texas Interconnections to analyze the potential implications of water stress for transmission and resource planning. Working with WECC, WGA, and ERCOT and utilizing this Energy-Water DSS a wide range of transmission planning scenarios will be simulated and evaluated.
While timely accomplishment of these tasks is important and necessary, we are striving for broader impact. Currently there are no long-range, interconnection-wide transmission plans for the Western and Texas Interconnections. Consequently, the ability to assess how various infrastructure options balance reliability, cost, and the environment from an interconnection-wide perspective does not exist. This project coordinated with the efforts of WECC, WGA, ERCOT and their partners will create a comprehensive package of stakeholder-vetted, regional planning models, data, and conclusions that are coordinated at the interconnection-wide level. Cumulatively, this information will substantially improve the quality and quantity of information available to industry planners, state and federal policymakers and regulators. Specifically, this project will supplement interconnection-wide transmission planning studies with information on water availability, which is critical in shaping electricity generation options.
This proposed project represents the first comprehensive, regional analysis of the energy-water nexus. This is also the first coordinated analysis undertaken by federal and state agencies, the power industry, NGOs and other interested stakeholders. In this way, the data, models, scenario analyses, and insights derived from this effort will provide a significantly improved body of evidence for policy making at local, state and federal levels.
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Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
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