Life Cycle Water Use for Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Review and Harmonization of Literature Estimates

Jordan Macknick, Garvin Heath, Ariel Miara, James Meldrum, Syndi Nettles-Anderson

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

10 Scopus Citations

Abstract

This work provides consolidated estimates of water withdrawal and water consumption requirements for the full life cycle of photovoltaic (PV) systems, including component manufacturing, power plant construction, system operation, and decommissioning. Life cycle data were also collected for other types of electricity generating technologies for comparison purposes. Published estimates were gathered through a broad search of publicly available sources, screened for quality and relevance, and harmonized for methodological differences, when possible. Compared with other electricity generating technologies, the total life cycle water use for PV systems are lower than all other technologies except for wind technologies.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages1458-1460
Number of pages3
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Oct 2014
Event40th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2014 - Denver, United States
Duration: 8 Jun 201413 Jun 2014

Conference

Conference40th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDenver
Period8/06/1413/06/14

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 IEEE.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-6A20-62157

Keywords

  • energy
  • photovoltaic systems
  • product life cycle management
  • water conservation
  • water resources

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