A study of climate change effect on power generation

Global climate change has emerged as a major concern in 21st century and it has become a threat to all living beings on earth, creating impact on the biodiversity, food production and human settlement. Among the human settlement, the industrial sectors especially the power sector will face a great threat due to the ambient temperature rise caused by global warming. Scant research has been undertaken to identify the impact of climate change on power generation. The objective of this research is to identify potential impact on power generation in developed and developing countries. The study includes two case studies; a) power generation in a developing country and b) Power generation in a developed country. The study examines impact of climate change on power generation over a period of 100 years (2010-2100) in these two diverse countries.<br><br>Power generation efficiency generally depends on the efficiency of cooling system which in term depends on the ambient temperature, water temperature and availability of fresh water. In order to investigate the climate change impact on power generation in Bangladesh and Australia, present and future power generation capacities have been identified. The study modelled the future power generation till 2100. The climate change impact on different regions of these two countries has been identified. The effects of individual climate change parameters on region based power generation have also been investigated. For Bangladesh, the study identified the effects of temperature increase, inundation, salinity increase, flood, drought, river erosion, storm surge and cyclone on power generation capacity. For Australia, the effect of temperature rise on power generation is considered. <br><br>The study has revealed that all power generations in coastal areas of Bangladesh, which constitute around 30% of the total power generation, will experience a higher risk due to inundation, salinity, storm surge and tropical cyclone by year 2100. Power generation in the central region (30% of the total) will expose to flooding and the northern region (~29%) will be affected by drought. Additionally, all power generation capacity throughout the country will be affected by 2.4°C temperature rise by 2100. <br><br>For Australia, the study found that the power generation will experience temperature rise up to 7°C by 2100, 65% of which will face a temperature rise of more than 5°C. The study also found that the power generation in western, central and northern regions of Australia will experience much higher temperature increase compared to eastern region. Despite, not been estimated the exact reduction of power generation that would be affected by each degree of temperature rise or other direct and indirect climate change parameters in this study, it is widely anticipated that a significant reduction of power generation efficiency will occur. To minimise this effect, the design parameters in overall power generation and infrastructure development must be adjusted and accounted. <br>