Water-Energy Co-Optimization: Analysis in the Latin-American Interconnection Context
Abstract
Based on international statistics and projections, population spread, energy demand and water consumption will impose new challenges and constraints. The impact of climate change will modify the current rainfall patron completely in Latin America altering the availability of water resource, where near 70% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture. The strong interdependence of energy and water is recognized but current tools for an integrated analysis are not covering the complexity of the problem. The focus of this paper is to identify the effects of a greater development of solar energy in the context of Latin America interconnected. Therefore, a co-optimization model of energy and water is proposed and analyzed considering water use for irrigation and climate change indicators for year 2040. The results show that planning a system based on solar power modifies water and energy allocations.