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UCSD: Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources Will Increase Price Tag to Decarbonize the Grid [View all]
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/plans-for-a-zero-carbon-grid-need-to-include-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-water-systemsImpact of Climate Change on Water Resources Will Increase Price Tag to Decarbonize the Grid
Published Date November 25, 2024
Story by:
Ioana Patringenaru - ipatrin@ucsd.edu
A new study warns that current plans to achieve zero emissions on the grid by 2050 vastly underestimate the required investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. The reason: these plans do not account for climate change’s impacts on water resources.
Specifically, changes in water availability caused by climate change could decrease hydropower generation by up to 23% by the year 2050, while electricity demand could increase by 2%. Both these phenomena would come together in summer to compound impacts on the grid.
To adapt to these impacts, the Western United States would need to build up to 139 gigawatts of power capacity between 2030 and 2050–equivalent to nearly three times California’s peak power demand, or up to 13 gigawatts in transmission capacity during the same time period. The total additional investment would come with a price tag of up to $150 billion.
That is the conclusion of a study published Nov. 25 in Nature Communications (Szinai et al., 2024) and co-authored by a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers, including at the University of California San Diego.
…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54162-9Published Date November 25, 2024
Story by:
Ioana Patringenaru - ipatrin@ucsd.edu
A new study warns that current plans to achieve zero emissions on the grid by 2050 vastly underestimate the required investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. The reason: these plans do not account for climate change’s impacts on water resources.
Specifically, changes in water availability caused by climate change could decrease hydropower generation by up to 23% by the year 2050, while electricity demand could increase by 2%. Both these phenomena would come together in summer to compound impacts on the grid.
To adapt to these impacts, the Western United States would need to build up to 139 gigawatts of power capacity between 2030 and 2050–equivalent to nearly three times California’s peak power demand, or up to 13 gigawatts in transmission capacity during the same time period. The total additional investment would come with a price tag of up to $150 billion.
That is the conclusion of a study published Nov. 25 in Nature Communications (Szinai et al., 2024) and co-authored by a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers, including at the University of California San Diego.
…
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