Measuring and Evaluating Water-Energy Nexus in Iran’s Electricity Export and Import Using Virtual Water Approach

Iran is facing limited water resources and all production and service processes require the use of water, so it is very important to evaluate the state of water consumption of activities and provide methods for its optimization. So, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the water consumption in the production of each kilowatt hour of electricity and to examine the virtual water situation in the process of exporting and importing electricity in Iran. For this purpose, two methods of structural path analysis and technical-basic approach have been used. The results showed that the country's power plants directly consume 1.5 liters of water per kilowatt hour of electricity production. Also, according to the results of the structural path analysis method, in the electricity production chain before reaching the power plant, 2.5 liters of water is indirectly consumed per kilowatt hour of electricity, and therefore the entire chain consumes 4 liters of water per kilowatt hour. Of the total water consumed in the electricity production chain, which is more than one billion cubic meters, 38% of it was consumed directly in power plants and the other 62% in the production chain.