Managing energy costs in water distribution systems

Abstract

The reduction of energy consumption is one of the first steps in fighting operational costs in Water Distribution Systems (WDS). Finding the optimal energy savings procedure and its implementation into a real-time control framework will always be a hot topic in the engineering of these systems. Several possible operational algorithms are presented for the WDS of the City of Uzice, Serbia, as an example. The Uzice WDS system is one of the most complex WDS in Serbia, with more than 30 tanks and pump stations and over 300 km of a distribution network area that spreads between 380 and 890 meters above sea level. Following Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system integration, a hydraulic WDS simulation model was developed using real-time measured and field-collected data. The model's output was used to update SCADA parameters. This procedure enabled significant energy savings by maximizing pump operational time during the low tariff (night) and by controlling the simultaneous work of major power consumers.