The cost of conserved water for power generation from renewable energy technologies in Alberta, Canada

The main objective of this paper is to integrate water demand coefficients with the levelized cost of electricity to study the impact of renewable energy technologies on the sustainability of the power generation pathways. The cost of conserved water was developed for each of the 60 renewable energy pathways based on a reference case. The current case of power generation in the Province of Alberta, Canada was considered to be the reference. Nuclear energy has the lowest cost of conserved water (CCW) compared to the other renewable energy pathways. The CCW for nuclear energy pathways in Alberta is in the range 0.42-0.55 USD per m3 of water consumption saved during the complete life cycle followed by 1.11 USD/m3 as a corresponding CCW for wind energy. The cost of conserved water for nuclear energy pathways using the closed loop cooling system in Alberta is in the range 0.34-0.42 USD per m3 of water withdrawals saved during the complete life cycle followed by 0.84 USD/m3 as a corresponding CCW for wind energy. Levelized cost of electricity from wind energy in the reference case of Alberta has to be reduced by 32% and 4% based on the water consumption for the power generation stage and complete life cycle, respectively, to achieve a cost of conserved water of one USD per m3 of water saved.