About 90% of the United States’ energy comes from hydropower and thermal energy sources—including natural gas, nuclear, and coal—all of which share a critical need: water. Power plants need water to keep their systems cool and safe, and hydropower uses water as renewable fuel. As the climate changes, so will water availability and other ambient conditions, threatening the reliability of today’s power system and tomorrow’s clean energy grid. That’s why researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)—along with those at Sandia National Laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the City University of New York, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory—are studying both regional and national climate and hydrologic changes to provide a comprehensive assessment of climate and water impacts and risks to the U.S. power grid.
This year, the team developed a state-of-the-art modeling framework to assess climate and water impacts as well
as other risks to the grid, including sensitivities to varying hydrologic drivers and infrastructure scenarios. The research provides key insights that utilities and system operators need to mitigate and adapt their power grid assets and systems to climate and water risks, so utilities and policymakers can make better-informed planning decisions.
