Converting a Water Pressurized Network in a Small Town into a Solar Power Water System

Abstract

The efficient management of water and energy is one challenge for managers of water pressurized systems. In a scheme with high pressure on the environment, solar power appears as an opportunity for nonrenewable energy expenditure reduction and emissions elimination. In Spain, new legislation that eliminates old taxes associated with solar energy production, a drop in the cost of solar photovoltaic modules, and higher values of irradiance has converted solar powered water systems into one of the trendiest topics in the water industry. One alternative to store energy (compulsory in standalone photovoltaic systems) when managing pressurized urban water networks is the use of head tanks (tanks accumulate water during the day and release it at night). This work intends to compare the pressurized network running as a standalone system and a hybrid solution that incorporates solar energy supply and electricity grids. The indicator used for finding the best choice is the net present value for the solar power water system lifespan. This study analyzed the possibility of transferring the energy surplus obtained at midday to the electricity grid, a circumstance introduced in the Spanish legislation since April 2019. We developed a real case study in a small town in the Alicante Province, whose findings provide planning policymakers with very useful information in this case and similar case studies

Economic assessment of converting a pressurised water distribution network into an off-grid system supplied with solar photovoltaic energy

“…But these authors highlight monetary conditions might decline if service managers do not keep maintenance and recycling. Storing water in head tanks as potential storage involves increasing tank capacity, a challenge that reduces profitability (Pardo et al 2020b).…”

“…Future improvements of this program should let the users simulate other configurations as a smaller PV system storing the surplus of energy in batteries or compensation tanks (Pardo et al 2020b) or consider the possibility of taking power from the grid. Another choice would be to find an algorithm that matches the energy consumption with energy production in a PIN with a programmed irrigation schedule.…”

Improving energy efficiency of rental housing

“…Authors from the Netherlands: Van Hattum, Sabine Jansen, Saleh Mohammadi and Regina Boke write about alternative energy concepts [11]. Miguel Ángel Pardo examines the issue of effective water and energy resources management on the example of Spain cities [12]. Anna Libey, Marieke Adank, and Evan Thomas also studied the water issue and confirmed the need for a conscious approach to the depleted resources of our planet [13].…”

Land-use changes and precipitation cycles to understand hydrodynamic responses in semiarid Mediterranean karstic watersheds

“…(Aburas et al, 2019;Assefa et al, 2020). Particularly, land-use changes are producing variations in the hydrological response with irreparable modification of the water cycle and increases in the maximum flow peaks during runoff events (Camarasa-Belmonte, 2016;Alonso-Sarría et al, 2016;Csáki et al, 2020;Sánchez-Galiano et al, 2017;Pardo et al, 2020). Nowadays, the application of remote sensing techniques (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) has propelled Earth observations, improving the identification and mapping of land use and respective changes (Petchprayoon et al, 2010;Nayeb-Yazdi et al, 2021;Đukic and Erić, 2021).…”