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Differentiating the Effects of Climate Change-Induced Temperature and Streamflow Changes on the Vulnerability of Once-Through Thermoelectric Power Plants.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Henry, CL; Pratson, LF
Published in: Environmental science & technology
April 2019

Thermoelectric power plants with once-through cooling systems generated 30% (∼300 GW) of U.S. electricity in 2016. Factors that reduce once-through cooling capacity and thus power output are environmental regulations, warming surface waters, and drought. The latter two may become more frequent as global climate changes. Previous research indicates that reduction in power plant capacity caused by environmental regulations can be significant while that by surface water warming is minor. Here, we address the effect of droughts on power output, which until now has remained conflated with temperature impacts. We do this using a widely used electricity generation model alongside hourly operational and meteorological data for 52 once-through plants located across the U.S. The effect of drought on plant output is examined for different water-availability and temperature scenarios, with and without regulations on plant water discharge. We find that if surface waters warm 3 °C and river discharges drop 20%, droughts would account for ≤20% of total capacity reduction depending on the plant, warming surface waters ≤2.3%, and environmental regulations up to 80%. This suggests that maintaining environmental regulations will require the continued conversion of plant cooling systems from once-through to recirculating, and mitigating climate impacts will require more stringent drought-specific watershed management.

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Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

April 2019

Volume

53

Issue

7

Start / End Page

3969 / 3976

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Rivers
  • Power Plants
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Droughts
  • Climate Change
 

Citation

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Henry, C. L., & Pratson, L. F. (2019). Differentiating the Effects of Climate Change-Induced Temperature and Streamflow Changes on the Vulnerability of Once-Through Thermoelectric Power Plants. Environmental Science & Technology, 53(7), 3969–3976. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b05718
Henry, Candise L., and Lincoln F. Pratson. “Differentiating the Effects of Climate Change-Induced Temperature and Streamflow Changes on the Vulnerability of Once-Through Thermoelectric Power Plants.Environmental Science & Technology 53, no. 7 (April 2019): 3969–76. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b05718.
Henry, Candise L., and Lincoln F. Pratson. “Differentiating the Effects of Climate Change-Induced Temperature and Streamflow Changes on the Vulnerability of Once-Through Thermoelectric Power Plants.Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 53, no. 7, Apr. 2019, pp. 3969–76. Epmc, doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b05718.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

April 2019

Volume

53

Issue

7

Start / End Page

3969 / 3976

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Rivers
  • Power Plants
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Droughts
  • Climate Change