Serving Water Demands and Electric Grid Reliability: Assessing the Capabilities of Water Utilities

Water systems and electricity systems are inherently coupled. However, due to a lack of policy and economic incentives, the systems are largely planned and operated independently. With an increasing reliance on variable and uncertain generation resources, the electric grid is demanding an increasing supply of flexible resources to balance electric supply and demand. Water utilities represent a massive and potentially under-utilized source of flexible demand. This research aims to understand the value of increased coordination between electricity and water system planners and operators. Specifically, we quantify how much flexibility water infrastructure can provide to the electric power system in New England from present day to projected 2040 systems. By combining system expansion and operations simulation models we quantify how flexible water system operations can affect the required quantities of power system operating reserves, technology dispatch decisions, power system costs and reliability (measured through loss of load expectation); all under multiple electricity system portfolios in 2040. With these outputs, the study results directly inform how increased water-electric infrastructure system coordination can contribute to reduce overall costs and improve efficiency with the proper changes to operations, planning, and policy decisions.