Quantifying the resilience of the water-energy nexus for a reservoir-pump station system

Abstract

Most inter-basin water diversion projects have been constructed to cope with water shortage problems. These projects usually have multiple reservoirs and pump stations connected to each other. Most previous studies focus solely on the operation of reservoirs aiming to supply more water rather than the joint operation of the reservoir-pump station system. Project operations that ignore the pump station may not be cost effective. In addition, future water availability is of great uncertainty that will affect the system’s performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to evaluate the tradeoffs between water supply and power net revenue (considering power generation by hydropower stations and power consumption by pump stations) under different water availability scenarios, which can be used to inform policies. A resilience metric is introduced to evaluate the joint system performance. An optimization model including two objectives: social perspective (minimum of total water shortage) and economic perspective (maximum of power net revenue) is considered for the study area: the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Valley Water Diversion Project. Results mainly show that two objectives are in a contradictory relationship. If future streamflow does not decrease, the water supply sector could at least meet 50% of the water demand in recipient area.