Optimization of electricity generation pattern in China from perspective of water scarcity

Increasing electricity demand is exerting growing pressure on scarce freshwater resources. Especially in China, the spatial mismatch of energy and water caused water-shortage regions shoulder heavy electricity generation tasks. This spatial layout could further aggravate national water scarcity. In this paper, to provide insights for a more rational electricity generation-trade pattern, we built an electricity generation tasks redistribution model to optimize national electricity generation pattern. In this model, the objective function is minimizing the water use related to electricity generation for drier regions through transferring electricity generation tasks to adjacent wetter regions. The equality constraint condition is that the total amount of national electricity generation must sufficiently supply the total electricity demand The inequality constraint is that the adjustment range of electricity generation of each province is limited by local installed capacity. The results show that, in the optimal scenario, the water consumption related to electricity generation of regions in water "shortage grade 1" and "shortage grade 2" (drier regions) can be decreased by 46% and 44%, respectively. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.