Energy recovery from water distribution networks using micro hydropower: A case study in Iran

Maryam Hamlehdar, Hossein Yousefi, Younes Noorollahi and Mohammad Mohammadi

Energy, 2022, vol. 252, issue C

Abstract: In the water distribution network (WDN), there could be considerable potential for power production due to water pressure surplus and head difference inside the water pipes. In WDNs, excess pressure energy inside water pipelines is usually dissipated by pressure reduction valves (PRVs), which can be harnessed by the installation of micro-hydropower (MHP) systems without interfering in the water supply process. MHP systems can be substituted with conventional PRVs for both pressure reduction and energy production. This paper develops a modeling framework to demonstrate the feasibility of using unexploited energy in WDN, adjusted by PRVs, and its potential application in empowering water pumps. In this regard, a case study, considering information of a regional WDN in Teheran city, is designed and modeled in EPANET to estimate the output power from PRVs and to propose plausible options for implementing MHP technologies based on hydraulic model calculations. The results showed that for the studied city network the potential power generated by the extraction of excess energy in RPVs is 168.21 kW, which can provide on average 42.3% of the power consumed by the pumps used in the network.

Keywords: Renewable energies; Micro hydropower systems; Water distribution network; EPANET (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222009276
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:252:y:2022:i:c:s0360544222009276

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124024

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().