(Montel) Power sector vulnerable to water shortages – IEA

For the original publication, please click here.

The power sector is particularly vulnerable to growing water stress, with increasing shortages in drier regions a major source of concern for energy security, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday. 

“Hydropower generation could decline significantly in regions where water flows are likely to decrease, such as southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East,” it added in a new report launched on World Water Day.

In 2022, for example, “a very poor year for hydropower in southern Europe added to the strains on gas and electricity markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related cuts to pipeline gas deliveries”.

Report author Tomas de Oliveira Bredariol also cited the example of France’s Chooz nuclear plant, which was closed for two months during a heatwave two years ago, hampering its ability to use river water for cooling. 

A number of plants across Europe have suffered similar incidents in recent years. 

He also pointed to a heatwave in Germany last summer that led to limitations on coal barge deliveries to power plants. 

Water availability key

Water availability was therefore “an increasingly important measure for assessing the physical, economic and environmental viability of energy projects”, said the report.

In 2021, the global energy system used around 370bcm of freshwater, meaning roughly 10% of total freshwater withdrawals were dedicated to electricity generation, fossil fuel production or biofuels cultivation, added the IEA.

It estimated that this use could rise to nearly 400bcm by the turn of the decade, fuelled by increasing withdrawals to cool nuclear power plants and irrigate bioenergy feedstocks. 

This was despite the fact nearly two-thirds of the world’s population already experienced severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

“Without efforts to reduce water use in these technologies as well as in fossil energy supply, a pathway to lower emissions could exacerbate water stress or be limited by it,” said De Oliveira Bredariol.

“The world has a water problem and the energy sector needs to contend with it.”