Joint Agency Workshop on California Drought Response Robert Kostecki, LBNL California Energy Commission, Sacramento, August 28, 2015

2 CA water-energy challenges call for science-based strategies CA energy systems are vulnerable to water uncertainty CA fresh water sustainability is vulnerable to energy availability Water/energy demands from CA ‘s economy and growing population are increasing Water and energy supply disruptions due to climate change and GHG mandates pose severe challenges for future water-energy management Science based tools to guide optimized California investments in water-energy infrastructure DO NOT EXIST California Water & Energy Systems Are Vulnerable Goals: Reliability, Restoration and Resilience

3 California's Generation Mix (2008), CEC Electricity Consumption by Sector 2008, CEC Water infrastructure CDWR The Problem: Water – Energy Heterogeneity

Water-Energy-Climate Nexus Going Forward Can we improve energy efficiency of water treatment, distribution, management and end use through advanced S&T? Develop a research portfolio addressing risks, performance targets, impacts and RDD&D pathways.

Goal: Provide hydroclimate predictions at scales to guide actionable CA energy- water strategies Capabilities: 1. Ultra-high-resolution models to resolve California’s changing precipitation and river flow. 2. Integrated Earth-system models for future environmental health and energy, food, and water resources. 3. The Climate Readiness Institute to connect to key state and local agencies and resource managers. Actionable Hydroclimate Predictions for California

Advanced Tools for Sustainable CA Groundwater Mgmt Capabilities: 1.Mechanistic and coupled hydrologic, mechanical, and chemical models 2.Novel platforms for sensing all components of water cycle 3.Diverse data ‘knowledgebase’ capabilities 4.High performance computing and data management capabilities Goals: Science & data-based management tools for CA groundwater balance, quality, and subsidence. CA water inventory and knowledgebase Networked sensing of water cycle Energy efficient agricultural banking strategies InSAR Surface DeformationModeled Surface Deformation Withdrawal Recharge

Mission: Enable the productive, economical and safe use of non-traditional water resources in California. Goals: 1. Reduce the cost of turning saline waters into drinkable water by a factor of five. 2. Allow beneficial use of produced waters from oil and gas, CCS, and geothermal operations. 3. Integrate water treatment technologies with renewable and/or waste heat energy sources. Impact : To ensure that newly-invented technologies and advances in the maturing technologies under development are transferred as quickly as possible to market. Science, technology, and policy solutions to the world’s most critical energy and environment challenges. Technology for energy-efficient water systems in California

Opportunities to Reduce Costs Despite economic and environmental pressures, desalination hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 1980s Low to no further cost reduction potential -Creative financing -Co-location with existing power plants Some opportunity from regionalization -Encourage utilities to join together -Demand mitigation: conservation, pricing, reuse rates Highest Potential -Better technology through R&D and technology transfer -Stimulate competition in industry “…the development of new, more effective membranes and improved technologies for pretreating water have the potential to reduce the cost of desalting to affordable levels in regions where energy is relatively inexpensive, brine disposal can be managed, and demand is local.” NRC 2001

Berkeley Lab, a member of the UC System, has deep experience with complex environmental-energy challenges that require coordinated, multi-disciplinary, team-based research and long term access to measurement, computational and engineering resources for success. Clean Energy Research Center for Water and Energy Solutions and Technologies (CERC-WEST) Budget: $ 40M; Announced Aug 21, CA Institutions: Berkeley Lab UC Berkeley UC Irvine UC Davis UC Merced Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) 5 Topical S&T Areas: 1.Water Use Reduction at thermoelectric plants 2.Treatment & Management of Non- Traditional Waters 3.Improving Sustainable Hydropower Design & Operation 4.Climate Impact Modeling & Methods 5.Data/Analysis to Inform Planning, Policy & Other Decisions An Example The Good News….UC system & Berkeley Lab brain trust can collectively tackle California’s water-energy challenges