Quantification of climate change-driven water stress on thermal power plants in India

The objective of this work is to quantify the effect of climate change on the intra-annual water stress experienced by thermal power plants in India. The Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM v11.5) is used to quantify the monthly water withdrawal and consumption for thermal power plants in four different water-stressed states of India. Current water withdrawal range was 2400-5500 l/MWh, and increased during the summer months by as much as 24 % compared to winter months. Simulations for two representative climate change scenarios, namely SSP2 - RCP 4.5 and SSP5 - RCP 8.5, showed 7-18 % increase in water withdrawal as compared to the present. For the state of Rajasthan, future surface water availability, estimated using Budyko's framework, decreased by more than 49 % for both scenarios as compared to present. Power plants in regions analysed will face water deficits during January-May, necessitating careful planning to manage climate change impacts in the future.