Wind Energy for Water Applications

As communities grow, greater demands are placed on water supplies, wastewater services, and the electricity needed to power the growing water services infrastructure. Water is also a critical resource for thermoelectric power plants. Future population growth in the United States is therefore expected to heighten competition for water resources. Especially in arid U.S. regions, communities may soon face hard choices with respect to water and electric power.

Many parts of the United States with increasing water stresses also have significant wind energy resources. Wind power is the fastest-growing electric generation source in the United States and is decreasing in cost to be competitive with thermoelectric generation. Wind energy can potentially offer communities in water-stressed areas the option of economically meeting increasing energy needs without increasing demands on valuable water resources. Wind energy can also provide targeted energy production to serve critical local water-system needs. The DOE Wind Program has been exploring the potential for wind power to meet growing challenges for water supply and treatment. The program is currently characterizing the U.S. regions that are most likely to benefit from wind-water applications and is also exploring the associated technical and policy issues associated with bringing wind energy to bear on water resource challenges. See below for particular wind-water applications.

Wind Energy for Municipal Water Supply
Wind Energy for Agricultural Water Supply
Wind Energy for Thermoelectric Generation Water Supply

Related Information

To read more about wind energy for water applications click on the links to events, organizations and publications below.

Events

WEFTEC 80th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference Conservation and Renewable Energy
October 13 - 17, 2007, San Diego, CA. - abstracts due December 1, 2006
Southwest Renewable Energy Conference
July 31 - August 2, 2007
Water Policy Conferences
May 19, 2006
University of New Mexico School of Law
Utton Transboundary Resources Center
Exploring the Energy-Water Nexus: A Stakeholder Dialogue for Identification of Critical Issues
February 25, 2005, NREL.

Organizations

Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Water and Energy Technology Team
Sandia National Laboratories
Energy-Water Nexus
Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable
USDA National Agricultural Library
Tools and Guides: Funding for projects affecting water

Publications

Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Aquifer Basics, USGs
The Wind/Water Nexus, AWEA Windpower 2006 conference poster
June 2006 (PDF 1.6 MB)
The Wind/Water Nexus, Wind Powering America fact sheet
April 2006 DOE/GO-102006-2218 (PDF 650 KB)
Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: the Role of Research 2004
Water Science and Technology Board
Estimated Water Use in the United States, USGS
March 2004 (PDF 1.2 MB)