The consumption of water by thermal power plants for cooling purposes has presented several policy and resource allocation challenges in the recent past. There is need for improved economic understanding of thermal power plant water consumption to better address these challenges. In this paper, we examine the economic efficiency of water consumption substitutes for existing thermal power plants. In the long run, a power plant could reduce water consumption by investing in efficiency improvements. In the short run, a power plant could reduce water consumption by curtailing power output. The analysis presented in this paper demonstrates that these substitutes are not economically efficient; water prices in excess of $1.00/m³ would be required for power plants to make efficiency investments or curtail output. Thermal power plants are therefore not attractive targets for water consumption reduction initiatives based on pricing alone. Furthermore, in the long run, efficiency improvements only show significant water reduction potential for the most inefficient plants. However, the findings of the short run analysis indicate that since thermal power plants are willing to pay water prices in excess of $1.00/m³ before curtailing output, these power plants do not require free reallocation of water from senior water rights holders during periods of scarcity, as has been the practice in several regions. Instead, a more efficient water policy focus would be creation of enabling environments for water market transactions. Such water market transactions could help balance competing water demands during periods of scarcity, while maintaining reliable electricity supply.

最近，火力发电厂用于冷却目的的水消耗提出了一些政策和资源分配方面的挑战。为了更好地应对这些挑战，需要对火力发电厂的用水有更好的经济认识。在本文中，我们研究了现有火力发电厂用水替代品的经济效率。从长远来看，发电厂可以通过投资提高效率来减少用水量。在短期内，发电厂可以通过减少电力输出来减少用水量。本文提供的分析表明，这些替代品在经济上并不有效；水价超过$ 1.00 / m ³发电厂进行效率投资或减少产量将需要。因此，火力发电厂并不是仅基于定价的减少用水量计划的有吸引力的目标。此外，从长远来看，对于效率最低的工厂，提高效率只会显示出显着的节水潜力。但是，短期分析的结果表明，由于火力发电厂愿意支付超过$ 1.00 / m ^3的水价在减少产量之前，这些发电厂不需要在缺水期间从高级水权持有者那里免费重新分配水，这在一些地区已经成为惯例。相反，更有效的水政策重点将是为水市场交易创造有利的环境。此类水市场交易可帮助在水资源短缺期间平衡竞争的用水需求，同时保持可靠的电力供应。