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A new report from the Sierra Club details the water usage of gas, coal and nuclear power plants.
The report shows that in 2024 Texas power plants consumed roughly 100 billion gallons of water, while renewables and battery storage use barely any water at all.
That number is far more than data centers in the state currently use or are expected to use in the future.
In the report, the J.K. Spruce power plant owned by CPS Energy used more water in 2024 than any other in the state.
Noah Ver Beek is Senior Energy Campaigns Analyst at Sierra Club. He says there is little or no incentive for CPS or other plants to reduce their water usage.
“Once they have these rights, they are generally granted these rights in perpetuity and Spruce has the right to consume about 12 billion gallons of water each year, and there aren't really significant incentives for them to reduce that consumption.”
The 2027 Texas State Water Plan estimates the state could face a shortage of 1.2 trillion gallons as soon as 2030.
Renewable energy supplied 30% of the state’s total electricity needs in 2024 but uses minimal water to operate.
Lindsay Mader is press secretary for the Sierra Club. She says power plants deserve scrutiny when it comes to water usage in the state.
“We think it's far past time to not look in every nook and cranny for where we can find water savings, so we think this water use category still deserves like a lot of attention, especially because there are other options that we have.”
The new report can be seen at the Sierra Club website.
