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Abstract
Water scarcity is a problem of increasing concern for the state of Georgia. For the last three decades the state has
experienced droughts that have reached extreme conditions on many occasions. Georgia released a comprehensive
water plan in 2008 that outlined historical and projected water use for various sectors of the economy. Water use for
energy generation has the largest by volume consumptive use of water in the state. The report outlined plans for
future energy generating facilities in order to meet the projected demand increase for electricity due to population
growth over the next 30 years. The planned technologies for these power plants relied mostly on conventional fossil
fuel generators with tower cooling systems. From a water consumption standpoint these facilities are highly
inefficient compared to currently available technologies. Though a quantitative analysis of the median water
consumption rates of alternative fuel sources and cooling technologies and a qualitative analysis of the feasibility of
these alternatives from a geographical perspective, it was determined that concentrated solar power and adoption of
dry cooling technology for conventional combustion generators provided the greatest water savings (96-99% on
average) relative to other generation technologies. It was also concluded that the choice in cooling technology had
nearly as much impact on water consumption by a power plant as did the choice of a fuel source.