The water–energy nexus: energy use for water supply in China

Abstract

China’s strategy to meet increasing water demand is to increase the use of inter-basin transfer water and unconventional water. This study evaluates the energy requirements of this strategy by disaggregating and quantifying the regional energy use for water supply in 2020 and 2030; the energy use in 2014 is calculated to represent the present situation. We find that the energy use for water supply in 2014 amounted to 81 billion kWh. This value is expected increase to 90 and 109 billion kWh by 2020 and 2030, respectively. In 2030, the urban domestic sector will overtake the agricultural sector as the most energy-intensive sector, with major contribution from inter-basin transfer water.

Keywords:

• China
• electricity use
• integrated planning
• water-energy nexus
• water supply

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Cecilia Tortajada and two anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments, which have significantly improved the presentation of this work.