Virtual water estimation and cost of virtual water for electricity generation in selected fossil and renewable power plants in the country

Currently in Iran, due to the availability of fossil resources, a huge amount of the country's electricity needs are met with the help of fossil power plants. But limited water resources will be one of the main challenges in generating electricity for our country in the future. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to calculate the amount of virtual water consumption in electricity generation in various fossil and renewable power plants and also the cost of virtual water used to generate electricity. Water consumption in steam turbine, combined cycle and gas turbine is equal to 1.38, 0.29 and 0.025 liters per kilowatt-hour, respectively, and in photovoltaic and wind power plants is very low. Therefore, in order to develop and grow the country's power industry, choosing the type of power plant and especially the type of cooling system plays an important role in saving water consumption. Although the cost of virtual water is negligible due to the low cost of each unit of industrial raw water, drinking water in government centers and irrigation of green spaces, the high consumption of water in power plant processes to generate electricity as a water industry shows Shows that by consciously choosing the path of energy development, a significant amount of waste of water resources can be prevented and also the reduction of heat pollution of water resources (in single-pass cooling systems) can be prevented.