American Water Resources Association 2016 ANNUAL WATER RESOURCES CONFERENCE November 14‐17, 2016 Orlando, FL Thursday, Nov. 17 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM SESSION 82: Energy/Water Nexus : Water Supply Planning for Energy Production/Extraction Analysis of Water Consumption Associated with Hydroelectric Power Generation in the United States ‐ David Lampert, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Hydroelectric power generation constituted approximately 6% of the electricity generation in the United States in 2015. To generate hydropower, an artificial reservoir must often be created that generates an increased evaporative flux to the atmosphere and consumes water resources that might otherwise have been used for other purposes downstream in river networks. The impact of hydropower generation on the hydrologic cycle and water resource consumption was analyzed using data for all hydropower producing reservoirs in the United States. Hydropower facilities were divided into three categories‐‐facilities generating power using the run‐of‐the‐river, facilities generating power from artificial multipurpose reservoirs, and facilities generating power from artificial dedicated reservoirs. Water consumption in run‐ of‐the‐river facilities is negligible as they require no increased exposed water surface area. Water consumption in dedicated and multipurpose reservoirs was determined to consume 10.2 and 22.7 gallons per kWh of power produced, respectively, far exceeding estimates for other power generation technologies. Water consumption in the multipurpose reservoirs was then allocated between hydropower and the other purposes using a number of different approaches. The results highlight an important and often overlooked trade‐off of water consumption for energy production, particularly in arid locations where water values are heavily distorted. Mapping the Energy Footprint of Produced Water Management in New Mexico ‐ Katie Zemlick, University of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM (co‐authors: E. Kalhor, J. Chermak, B. M.Thomson, V. C. Tidwell, E. J. Sullivan‐Graham) New Mexico has long been a leading producer of oil and natural gas and the increasing ability to access unconventional shale reserves through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have further increased recoverable reserves in the state. However, large amounts of water are required both for exploration and development, and produced in the extraction process, a concern in an arid state often at risk of water deficit. While the procurement of fresh water for drilling and fracking presents a large demand for water and constitutes significant monetary and energy costs early in the life of a well, produced water, the largest volume waste stream in oil and gas operations, is generated throughout the well's lifetime. Produced water includes both flowback water from fracking and water released from the formation is often orders of magnitude greater than the volume of water initially injected. Between 1994 and 2014, produced water generation has increased by more than 80%, and nearly all is disposed of via deep well injection. While produced water has historically been considered a waste product, increasing water scarcity, escalation in both fresh water and deep well disposal costs, and potential for induced seismicity associated with disposal wells has generated considerable interest in reuse of produced water in oil and gas operations. Multiple factors contribute to the energy footprint of produced water management and whether it is disposed of or reused. The storage, transmission, and injection of produced water disposal require energy and impact infrastructure over time. Because the chemistry of produced water is complex and highly variable, containing very high salt concentrations as well as oil and grease, organics, metals, radionuclides, and constituents recovered from hydraulic fracturing fluids, some level of treatment is usually required in order to maintain production efficiency and reduce corrosion and scaling in order to reuse the water for fracking or enhanced oil recovery, or render it suitable for deep well disposal. Economics is often the determining factor in whether fresh or produced water is used for hydraulic fracturing and how produced water is managed. The majority of these costs are attributable to the energy required for fresh water acquisition and transportation, and produced water storage, transmission, and treatment. This research applies a spatially distributed approach to quantifying the energy footprint of produced water management techniques, considering both conventional disposal and reuse in New Mexico. Well‐level water production data, water quality, spatial distribution of production and disposal wells, proximity to transmission infrastructure, and water demand are grouped by township range boundaries in coupled GIS and system dynamic models. The energy cost of both management strategies are evaluated taking into account the aforementioned factors as well as appropriate treatment technologies and mapped. This approach highlights the spatial variation in energy requirements and tradeoffs between produced water management choices, energy, and impacts on critical freshwater resources. The Role of Water in North Slope, Alaska, Oil and Gas Exploration, Development, and Operations ‐ Michael Lilly, GW Scientific, Fairbanks, AK (co‐author: R. Paetzold) North Slope, Alaska, oil and gas resources are critical to United States energy security. Exploration, development and operations of oil fields on the North Slope is dependent on water for conventional and unconventional resource development. Water also plays a critical role in transportation (ice and snow roads) for all the phases of oil‐field development and is an important resource for the life of any oil and gas field on the North Slope. Water and related natural‐resources management impact oil and gas development and operations. We studied through a series of consecutive projects, arctic‐dominated hydrology processes, water use and management practices and industry and regulatory practices. The results of these studies were used to develop recommendations to improve hydrologic data‐collection, management, and investigations to improve general water use and management of Arctic transportation networks supporting Oil and Gas operations in the north. Early water management practices were developed in a period of limited data availability and understanding of the Arctic hydrologic practices. The management practices needed to be conservative to address the lack in both data and hydrologic understanding. Recommendations include development and training for measuring snow depths in a tundra environment. Single measurements of snow depth can under‐predict or over‐predict snow depth. Recommendations for snow depth measurements incorporate making 25 consecutive measurements in one direction aligned with predominate wind directions and an additional 25 measurement at a right‐angle to the first measurement leg and averaging the results. Currently, soil type and ice content is not taken into account with ice‐ road transportation networks. Improving the understanding and relationship of soil type and frozen soil‐ice properties would allow load management practices to be used in a more consistent approach. We also recommended improved accounting systems for water availability in lakes and reservoirs used for winter water use. Previous methods treated lakes and reservoirs as static bodies of water with no recharge or discharge. Improved practices would account for the seasonal timing of water use and natural recharge and discharge during the annual hydrologic cycle of the water sources. Future challenges to oil and gas development and natural resource conservation will need to identify data requirements and methods of data use to make improvements in North Slope water management. The value in improving the understanding, management and use of data on the North Slope will be significant. The continued need to develop new smaller oil and gas fields, improve oil and gas recovery in existing fields and development unconventional oil and gas resources would significantly benefit from improved water management and use. Estimating the Wave Power Potential in Coastal Regions of Florida ‐ Cigdem Ozkan, CECE, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (co‐author: T. Mayo) Florida's energy industry is actively exploring alternative, renewable energy sources due to increasing concerns regarding the environmental impact of fuel burning in electricity production. Natural green energy resources are abundant in Florida and, in particular, there is considerable wave power potential with Florida's 1197 miles of coastline. Wave power provides a completely sustainable source of energy, which can be captured and converted into electricity by wave energy conversion (WEC) devices. This study examines the wave power potential of Florida's onshore and offshore coastal regions. Specifically, the spatial distribution of wave parameters (significant wave height and dominant wave period) is estimated using data measured at buoy centers and GIS interpolation techniques. The wave power potential is then estimated by an empirical formula developed by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the corresponding wave power absorption performance for WEC devices is calculated through EPRI methodology for multiple coastal regions of Florida. Wave energy potential is also estimated by employing a numerical wave model. The wave model inputs bathymetry, wind, sea surface temperature, and boundary data belonging to specific geographic region, and outputs the spectral distribution of the power potential directly. In the end, this study aims to find the regions of Florida with the highest and lowest power potential through a comparative assessment among the selected coastal regions. In this way, the appropriate locations are successfully determined for future establishment of wave energy conversion devices. Development of WEAP Model for Assessment of Water Efficient Technologies in Power Generation Sector ‐ Nikhil Agrawal, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada (co‐authors: M. Ahiduzzaman, A. Kumar) Water plays a key role in the generation of power. There is a lot of focus on reduction of water consumption in the power plants. Water efficient technologies can play a significant role in reducing the water consumption in the power sector. The purpose of this study is to identify and assess water efficiency opportunities in the power sector. The assessment of these options is based on the extent of water savings and the cost of saving of water over short and long term. A framework for this assessment is developed using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) System model. This study conducts a case study for a western Canadian province (i.e., Alberta) where about 55% of the power is generated by coal power plant. Two planning horizon are assessed including 2030 and 2050. A water demand tree is developed to evaluate the power sector's current water consumption. For the year 2015‐2050, a baseline scenario is developed and based on criteria such as economic feasibility, applicability of the technology to the Canadian industry, and potential for water savings. The cost effectiveness of different water efficiency improvement scenarios is assessed to examine the impacts on water consumption. A water conservation cost curve is developed using these scenarios. This information is helpful to energy industries in making the investment decisions and help the government in formulating appropriate policies for this sector. Further interaction of these water efficient scenarios with the changes in the energy consumption is also assessed.
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