Assessing the impact of drought on the emissions- and water-intensity of California's transitioning power sector
Assessing the impact of drought on the emissions- and water-intensity of California's transitioning power sector
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.enpol.2018.09.014
复制
发表时间：
2018-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9
通讯作者：
Sanders, Kelly T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zohrabian, Angineh;Sanders, Kelly T.
这项研究调查了加州电力部门的技术转型如何改变了该州的二氧化碳排放量和冷却水消耗强度。它的最终目标是评估该州的气候缓解和环境政策如何影响电力部门对极端干旱的脆弱性，以及极端干旱如何影响到实现各州气候缓解优先事项的进展。这项研究分析了2010-2016年的时间段，其中包括有记录以来最严重的干旱之一。结果表明，可变可再生能源发电量的增长有助于抵消干旱的一些负面后果，包括天然气发电商在低水电期间排放增加和冷却水使用量增加。然而，San Onofre核电站的退役推迟了州电力部门的整体脱碳，如果不用替代冷却水源或干式冷却系统冷却替代能力，沿海发电厂的大量产能关闭可能会增加电力部门的淡水消耗。所提到的温室气体缓解优先事项、对淡水的依赖以及对气候事件的脆弱性之间的权衡，突显了随着区域电网向更清洁的发电来源过渡，整体决策的重要性。
This study investigates how technological transitions across California's power sector have shifted its state-level carbon dioxide emissions and cooling water consumption intensities. Its ultimate goal is to evaluate how the state's climate mitigation and environmental policies have affected the power sector's vulnerability to extreme drought and how extreme drought has affected progress towards the states climate mitigation priorities. The study analyzes the period spanning 2010-2016, which includes one of the states most severe droughts on record. The results indicate that the growth of variable renewable energy generation has helped offset some of the negative consequences of drought, which include increased emissions and cooling water usage by natural gas generators during periods of low hydropower. However, the retirement of the San Onofre nuclear power plant has delayed the overall decarbonization of the states power sector, and the closure of significant coastal power plant capacity could increase the freshwater consumption of the power sector if replacement capacity is not cooled with alternative cooling water sources or dry cooling systems. The noted tradeoffs between greenhouse gas mitigation priorities, freshwater dependency, and vulnerability to climatic events highlight the importance of holistic decision making as regional power grids transition to cleaner generation sources.