Energy-water nexus in electricity trade network: A case study of interprovincial electricity trade in China

Abstract

The large amount of electricity generation is exerting tremendous pressure on water resources. Moreover, the spatial mismatch between water and electricity demand is aggravating national water scarcity through virtual water transfers in electricity trade. To investigate the impact of electricity trade on water resource and further provide insights into the optimization of national electricity trade pattern from virtual water strategy perspective, the impact evaluation model for interprovincial electricity trade network by evaluating and quantifying the “positivity” or “negativity” of electricity trade is constructed. The interprovincial virtual water transfer network is constructed, and the hybrid virtual water content is proposed to represent provincial water consumption factor per unit electricity generation. An impact assessment system is proposed and impact evaluation indicator is defined to identify and evaluate the “positivity” or “negativity” of each electricity trade. The results show that total volume of virtual water transfer embodied in Chinese electricity trade in 2015 is 5638.4 million m3, in which the negative virtual water transfer is 1410.5 million m3, which comprises 25.0% of the total volume of virtual water transferred. The most positive trade pair is “Sichuan-to-Shanghai”, while the most negative trade pair is “Sichuan-to-Chongqing”. By assessing the “positivity” or “negativity” of electricity trade, this study identifies critical trade pairs that mitigate or aggravate water scarcity risk, and provide insights into improvement and optimization of national electricity trade pattern.