@article{iiasa14245,
          volume = {11},
          number = {12},
           month = {December},
           title = {Impacts of recent drought and warm years on water resources and electricity supply worldwide},
       publisher = {Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP)},
            year = {2016},
         journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
             doi = {doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124021},
           pages = {e124021},
        keywords = {drought; global; hydropower; thermoelectric power; water resources; water temperature},
             url = {https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/14245/},
            issn = {1748-9326},
        abstract = {Recent droughts and heatwaves showed the vulnerability of the electricity sector to surface water constraints with reduced potentials for thermoelectric power and hydropower generation in different regions. Here we use a global hydrological-electricity modelling framework to quantify the impacts of recent drought and warm years on hydropower and thermoelectric power usable capacity worldwide. Our coupled modelling framework consists of a hydrological model, stream temperature model, hydropower and thermoelectric power models, and was applied with data of a large selection of hydropower and thermoelectric power plants worldwide. Our results show that hydropower utilisation rates were on average reduced by 5.2\% and thermoelectric power by 3.8\% during the drought years compared to the long-term average for 1981-2010. Statistically significant (p {\ensuremath{<}} 0.01) impacts on both hydropower and thermoelectric power usable capacity were found during major drought years, e.g. 2003 in Europe (-6.6\% in hydropower and -4.7\% in thermoelectric power) and 2007 in Eastern North America (-6.1\% in hydropower and -9.0\% in thermoelectric power). Our hydrological-electricity modelling framework has potential for studying the linkages between water and electricity supply under climate variability and change, contributing to the quantification of the 'water-energy nexus'.},
          author = {van Vliet, M. and Sheffield, J. and Wiberg, D. and Wood, E. F.}
}