Archive for January 9, 2020

Erkin | January 9, 2020
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More Water Shortages Mean Energy Investors Need New Ways to Manage Drought Risk

The first of six thermal power generation units at the Parli Thermal Power Station in Maharashtra, India shut down. Unable to draw enough water from the nearby Majalgaon dam, which had nearly run dry, the coal-powered unit was unable to run its cooling system and was forced to halt electricity production. This was just the start, as each of the five additional units subsequently shut down as well. Between July 2015 and December 2016, Parli stopped generating electricity entirely for 226 days solely due to water shortages, and during the days it wasn’t entirely shut down, it was largely paralyzed.

A thermal power plant in Rajasthan.

Imagine this picture replicated in other parts of India and around the world. Recent research is beginning to link climate change to drought, which suggests that risks to water availability will likely get worse.

That water shortages can prove costly to energy companies is old news. What is less understood is how much water shortages can impact utilities’ bottom lines. Read more

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Erkin | January 7, 2020
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In a Totally Unexpected Finding, Water Has Spontaneously Produced Hydrogen Peroxide

Water is a weird molecule, and no matter how many strange things about it we discover, it seems like there are always more unexpected surprises waiting around the corner – even after centuries of researching it.

Case in point: in a new study, scientists in the US have discovered that in the right circumstances, water can spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide – a quirk of basic chemistry, hiding in plain sight, which somehow eluded our notice until now.

“Water is one of the most commonly found materials, and it’s been studied for years and years and you would think that there was nothing more to learn about this molecule,” says chemist Richard Zare from Stanford University. Read more

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