Improvement of the Electrical Regulation of a Microhydropower System using a Water Management Tool

Abstract

The constant growth of the population and the increase in the need for resources create challenges, and it is necessary to seek more sustainable solutions to manage them more adequately and efficiently. In recent years, the use of renewable energy systems has increased, in which water distribution networks are no exception. Pumps operating as turbines (PATs) are an innovative solution with enormous potential to achieve these sustainable development goals. As a means of improving sustainability, in this research, an optimized regulation tool is developed to maximize the recovered energy in the system using PATs in water distribution networks (WDNs). This is possible due to the use of empirical methods for the estimation of the characteristic curves. The tool was developed in Simulink MATLAB, in which the optimization and iterative steps were carried out. It is based on the intended methodology and applied to a real case study. When implementing the tool, the results given are the hydraulic–electrical regulation strategies, where the number of machines working, the frequency inverter setpoint, and the degree of opening of the pressure-reducing valves (PRV) is defined for any given time. After the analysis in the case study, the tool recovered 28% of the supplied energy in the system. This daily recovered energy was above 7160 kWh, and it contributed to an increase in efficiency and sustainability.

Issues in Implementation of EU Regulations in Terms of Evaluation of Water Losses: Towards Energy Efficiency Optimization in Water Supply Systems

“…In the case of variable operating conditions, an appropriate solution can be the hydraulic or electrical regulation of PATs [56]. The incorporation of this regulation into a pressurized water system results in an increase in energy production and thus the sustainability of the WDSs [57].…”

Bypass Control strategy of a Pump as Turbine in a Water Distribution Network for energy recovery

“…Defining the control strategy of a PaT in a WDN is not immediate and requires in-depth analysis on the hydraulic load variability in order to maximize the energy production. Obviously, not all the WDNs are suitable for this kind of application and the choice should be subjected to techno-economic feasibility analysis [13,2,14,15,16,17]. Experimental studies [18,19] have been also performed in order to test hydraulic control scheme suitable for real WDNs and evaluate the overall efficiency of the energy recovery system, showing promising results.…”