Implementing water allocation in the TIAM-FR energy model
Résumé
Over the past ten years, a conscious concerning the energy sector has increased: we must face a depletion of fossil resources, increase the efficiency of current technologies, and develop new technologies to reduce environmental impacts. The energy sector is increasingly constrained and faces numerous challenges. The same applies to water supply, with growing concern about the availability and the sustainability of water resources.
Water and energy are both considered as strategic issues in our societies. Even though policies related to these resources generally dealt with separately, they are highly interconnected. Indeed, energy is required to maintain water supplies and water is essential to produce energy.
Although water use in the industry sector only represents 10% of the total use in low and middle-income countries, water use for energy can be close to 60% of the total use of water in high-income countries like France (57%) and the United States (40%). For upstream chain energy activities or cooling systems necessary for the production of electricity, huge quantities of water may be used: one part is consumed, the other is returned to the source.
The selection of technologies used in the energy sector may have a large impact on water. So, in the context of a growing world population, leading to increasing demands and competition for water and energy, it is vital to develop long-term strategic policies that consider the interconnections between the water and energy sectors. The current environmental approach in energy issues mainly focuses on the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions and seldom considers the impact on water. Issues such as the amount of water dedicated to the production of energy and the alteration of its quality are rarely considered. For example, carbon capture and storage systems (CCS) or flue gas desulfurization (FGD) are, on the one hand, answers to air pollution issues but, on the other hand, worsen the water stress as they require large inputs of water; a trade-off between those two issues has to be made.
The main aim of this study is to show how issues concerning water consumption and water withdrawal can be incorporated into energy system models, thereby facilitating discussions about possible futures concerning both aspects.