Changes to water temperature, availability affect hydroelectric, thermoelectric power plants
The sun sets behind the cooling towers of the Hendrina Power Station in South Africa. Thermoelectric plants, including nuclear and fossil-fuel based generators, need fresh water to cool their systems. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)
Climate change could lead to significant declines in electricity production in coming decades as water resources are disrupted, said a study published on Monday.
Hydropower stations and thermoelectric plants, which depend on water to generate energy, together contribute about 98 per cent of the world’s electricity production, said the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Shifts in water temperatures, or the availability of fresh water due to climate change, could lead to reductions in
electricity production capacity in more than two thirds of the world’s power plants between 2040 and 2069, said the study from an Austrian research centre.
A general view shows the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro-electric power station on the Yenisei River in Russia. On a monthly basis, as many as 22 per cent of hydropower plants around the world could experience “strong” reductions in their capacity due to climate change, a new study predicts. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)
“Power plants are not only causing climate change, but they might also be affected in major ways by climate,” said Keywan Riahi, Director of the Energy Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
“(Due to) climate change it will be increasingly difficult to provide reliable services at affordable costs,” Riahi, one of the study’s authors, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Hydro, nuclear, fossil fuel plants affected
Hydropower plants rely on water to move turbines, while thermoelectric plants, including nuclear and fossil-fuel based generators, need fresh water to cool their systems.
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