About 5 years ago we embarked on a global initiative titled “Thirsty Energy” to respond to water-energy nexus challenges around the world.
At the country level, we tailored approaches depending on the available resources, modeling experience, and institutional and political realities to create water-smart energy planning tools to promote a more sustainable development of energy resources.
It is therefore important to understand the regional challenges and devise context specific solutions to address the nexus in these critical hot-spots.
Sustainable energy planning needs to take into account water use and needs.
Our results show that accounting for the regional variability of water supply and the associated costs of water supply infrastructure for energy needs can significantly impact energy planning, especially in a water-scarce country like South Africa.
However, if decision makers plan in a more integrated manner they can ensure the robustness of water supply for energy and for other water users, thus maximizing the value of both energy and water infrastructure investments.
Water availability is a necessary condition for reaching universal energy access and meeting the future energy needs both in developing and developed countries, as almost all energy generation processes require water.
Energy infrastructure is designed to last for decades and thus, decisions should be made taking future water availability into account, including climate change impacts and increasing future competing water demands across sectors.
Energy projects need to assess if their water supply is sustainable now and into the future.
Other communication Material: All this material and other can be found in the Initiative’s website: http://www.worldbank.org/thirstyenergy