Assessment of water availability for wet cooling at potential locations for solar thermal power generation in India

This study presents the results of a preliminary attempt to assess water availability for wet-cooled solar thermal power plants at potential locations in India. A total of 95 locations with sufficient wastelands and annual average DNI more than 2000 kWh/m(2)have been considered for the analysis. Options of rainwater harvesting and groundwater extraction have been explored. It was observed that with rainwater harvesting, only 12 locations in different states are suitable for adoption of wet cooling. Further, with only groundwater extraction option, only one location in the state of Madhya Pradesh is found to be suitable for adoption of wet cooling. By combining both the approaches, it is observed that 28 of the 95 locations would have sufficient water available to meet the requirements of the plant. In the remaining 67 potential locations, the adoption of other available cooling options with relatively lesser water requirements may be appropriate.