Investigating Energy Flow in Water-Energy Storage for Hydropower Generation in Water Distribution Systems

Quantifying excess energy using an energy balance model is the key to designing and operating an energy-efficient water distribution system (WDS). Excess energy, which can be recovered instantly or stored in a water-energy storage is the basis to estimate hydropower potential in the system. For a given WDS with its demand, how the excess energy can be managed efficiently to design a water-energy storage to maximize hydropower generation is the focus of this paper. A single-objective optimization model has been developed to optimize the dimensions for up to six water-energy storages for maximizing hydropower generation while minimizing the pumping energy. While the ratio of total energy recovered to total pumping energy is found to be about 40% for all water-energy configurations, the recovered specific energy ranges from 0.116 kWh/m³ to 0.121 kWh/m³ showing the potential use of WDS as an energy storage. Results show that hydropower generation increases with the increase of number of storages up to a certain number representing the constraints of constant drinking water demand and storage dimensions. In-pipe turbines with pump operation for minimizing pumping energy can offer the optimal solution for WDS energy management. A higher number of storages with in-pipe turbines offers uniformity in pressure distribution resulting increase in system robustness.