Renewable Energy Development: A New Water War?

The state and federal governments are aggressively encouraging development of large, utility-scale renewable energy power plants to meet California’s ambitious Renewables Portfolio Standard goal of having 33% of the State’s electricity generated by solar, geothermal and other renewable energy technologies. As the projects wind through the permitting and environmental review process, agencies, project developers and communities are learning first-hand about the challenges facing them in trying to meet the goal. One of the challenges in water-scarce arid regions (much of California) is cooling solar and geothermal plants. Water and air are proposed; however, use of air, especially in hot climates, such as the California deserts, significantly reduces the electricity output of the plants. This panel will discuss the issues surrounding development of renewable energy power plants, focusing on the water/energy challenges and opportunities available to address the challenges.

1. What are the implications of future water scarcity for utility-scale electrical energy generation?
2. How are the implications different for geothermal, solar, natural gas and biomass generated electricity?
3. Does increased water use efficiency in electricity generation usually lead to lower electricity output?
4. What additional role should the electrical generation sector take in advancing water use efficiency?
5. What incentives to conserve water exist in the energy sector and do more need to be created?
6. What are the energy generation/production alternatives and tradeoffs?