Abstract

Population spread, energy demand growth, and water consumption will impose new challenges and constraints to water resources. The impact of climate change will modify the current rainfall pattern in Latin America altering the availability of water resources, where near 70% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture. A strong interdependence of energy and water is recognized but current tools for conducting an integrated analysis are not addressing the complexity of the problem. This paper is aimed at identifying the effects of high solar energy penetration in the context of Latin America interconnections under climate change scenarios. For this purpose, a novel co-optimization model of energy and water is proposed, considering water use for irrigation and climate change effects for the year 2040. The results show that planning a system based on solar energy will modify water and energy allocations. Several scenarios and sensitivities show the impact of considering climate change, water use, and specific social impacts. A realistic assessment on high solar energy penetration at regional level requires the simulation of short-term operating conditions in the planning exercises.