The Hoover Dam symbolizes America’s hydroelectric power generation. All power plants need water to cool their turbines. A lack of water supply is forcing energy companies to reduce production.
(iStockPhoto)


Drought Affecting U.S. Power Generation

August 23, 2012 • From theTrumpet.com






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The current drought is making the water needed in power plants both too scarce and too hot for normal electricity production. It is a little-known side effect with big implications.
Plants require vast quantities of water to cool off turbines that heat up during generation. They account for about half of all the water used in the United States. Water is far more important for energy production than most people understand, says Michael Webber, associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Power plants are a hidden casualty of droughts,” confirms Barbara Carney of the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia. A diminished supply of cool water forces a plant to reduce production, apply for a waiver to use cooling water above regulated temperatures, or suspend operations altogether.
Hydroelectric plants in California are expected to produce 1,137 fewer megawatts of power this summer than they did in the past, due to water shortages. Fossil fuel and nuclear plants are the hardest hit by the high temperatures, as they need more water to cool off. According to National Geographic News, one plant requested permission of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue operating after water temperature in its cooling pond exceeded the regulated limit. Another had to request the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for additional water to be pumped into its cooling ponds to prevent overheating. In Connecticut, a nuclear reactor had to be shut down because of high water temperatures in the Long Island Sound.
This year’s drought is proving to have a multiplicity of ramifications. Even the Mighty Mississippi is running dry. To avoid being discouraged about these negative weather trends, read the article “The Global Consequences of America’s Drought” and the solution presented therein. ▪







Comment on this article





Keith D Smart 1 day ago
So few words. So great a warning. According to the Economist the water level at the hoover dam is at only 40% capacity! ‘If the lake loses 10 feet a year, as it has recently, it will soon reach 1, 050 feet, the level below which the turbines can no longer run.’ - this according to the North County Times which is a level that could be reached by 2013! With the dire implications of such disasters only the Trumpet magazine supplies answers and solutions to our problems - which solutions come straight from the very pages of the Bible!


https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/9...wer-generation