Water Power Plant Cooling

The document details three primary cooling methods for thermoelectric power plants in the US: once-through, wet-recirculating, and dry-cooling. It highlights that while once-through systems have high water withdrawals and wet-recirculating systems have higher consumption, dry-cooling can reduce water consumption by over 90% despite higher costs and lower efficiencies. As of 2008, recirculating systems were the most common in terms of both generator count (56%) and electricity generation (45%).

• Thermoelectric power plants, which provide 90 percent of US electricity, require cooling to condense steam back into water after it passes through a turbine to ensure efficient electricity generation.
• There are three main cooling methods with distinct water profiles: once-through systems have high withdrawals and disrupt ecosystems; wet-recirculating systems (predominant in the western US) have lower withdrawals but higher consumption; and dry-cooling systems use air to reduce water consumption by more than 90%, though they incur higher costs and lower efficiencies.
• Based on 2008 data, recirculating cooling is the most prevalent method in the US, used by 56 percent of thermoelectric generators and accounting for 45 percent of electricity generation. Once-through cooling is used by 43 percent of generators and accounts for 30 percent of generation, while dry-cooling is used by 1 percent of generators and accounts for 2 percent of generation.
• Water requirements vary significantly by technology and cooling method; for example, conventional coal plants using once-through cooling withdraw between 20,000 and 50,000 gallons per megawatt-hour, whereas natural gas combined-cycle plants using dry-cooling withdraw between 0 and 4 gallons per megawatt-hour.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2010). Water Power Plant Cooling. https://www.ucs.org/resources/water-power-plant-cooling

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Water Power Plant Cooling. 2010. https://www.ucs.org/resources/water-power-plant-cooling.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Water Power Plant Cooling |date=5 October 2010 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/water-power-plant-cooling |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2010water, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Water Power Plant Cooling}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2010}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/water-power-plant-cooling}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }