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Water
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Energy Recovery and Hybrid Solutions in the Water Sector
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Energy Recovery and Hybrid Solutions in the Water Sector

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water-Energy Nexus".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 8425

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Helena M. Ramos

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, CERIS, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: hydropower; hydraulic transients; pumped-storage; water and energy nexus; hydrodynamic; renewables integration; water-energy efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Armando Carravetta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, via Claudio, 21, Napoli 80125, Italy
Interests: hydropower; efficiency of pumping systems; eco-design of water pumps; water and energy nexus; fluid dynamics modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Aonghus McNabola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Interests: hydropower; waste water heat recovery; water supply system optimisation; heat exchange; computational fluid dynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The water sector systems consume high quantities of energy that, in light of a sustainable future, needs to be recovered. The expenses necessary for water treatment, conveying and pumping are substantial and the need for solutions which can harness some of the system’s energy is perceived more and more essential. The excessive water pressure existing in these systems induces significant water and energy losses, needing better systems’ efficiency solutions, and at the same time creating a potential energy that can be harnessed by means of hydropower plants.  This special issue aims to improve the energy efficiency of water networks through the installation of innovative hydropower technology, pumped storage, hybrid energy solutions. This technology will recover existent or wasted energy in the water sector or in hydraulic new systems design. On the other hand, the high intermittence of renewable energy sources sets the production of electricity, which remains highly dependent on fossil fuels. Since there is complementarity between renewable energy sources, their joint integration will be a good solution to reduce this dependency. Together with this, a pumped-storage system capable of generating hydro reserves can coexist in an optimization way to supply the surplus demand from small to large solutions.

Water is a vital and scares resource where can be seen as an opportunity for investing the growing knowledge and technologies in view of a sustainable future. Renewable energy solutions have had an exponential growth over the past years and prospects of increasing. Solar and wind resources have been regarded together in order to define hybrid solutions so as to adapt to new systems, promoting more efficient solutions. Solar and/or wind pumping are examples of new solutions that are being invested due to their feasibility and low environmental impacts.  Moreover, one of the most reliable alternative energy sources is the hydropower. In the scope of hydropower solutions and in the point of view of optimizing the water use, the concept of recovering energy, which is currently being wasted, emerges as an opportunity for not only to attain the sustainability but also the capitalization.

Hydropower is a mature technology, with possibility for technological improvements, with flexibility adaptation to many new challenges: the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus, climate changes with its impacts on water resources and for storage of electrical energy, for other renewable sources integration, for pressure control and leakage reduction in water supply systems and for energy recovery. Hydropower offers significant potential for carbon emission reductions, with an annual generation of 4000 TWh, 16% of world electricity generation, hydropower remains the largest source of renewable energy in the electricity sector. There is a potential to double the global hydropower generation, up to 8000 TWh or more.

In this Special Issue, the role of hydropower in the improvement of systems efficiency and on the reduction of energy dependency are important variables for the near future. In this context, authors are invited to submit papers dealing with new design solutions, hybrid solutions, energy recovery, pumped-storage hydropower and hybrid plants, pump as turbine operation, new energy converter technologies, complementarity between renewable sources, eco-design and systems for a more flexible operation.

The scope of this Special Issue is, of course, not limited to the above-mentioned topics. The Journal will be pleased to receive papers from the full value-chain of hydropower.

Prof. Dr. Helena M. Ramos
Prof. Dr. Armando Carravetta
Prof. Dr. Aonghus Mc Nabola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydropower solutions
  • flexibility
  • eco-design
  • Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystem nexus
  • renewable energy
  • hybrid energy solution
  • pumped-storage
  • water sector

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 7134 KiB  
Article
PATs Behavior in Pressurized Irrigation Hydrants towards Sustainability
by Modesto Pérez-Sánchez, João F. P. Fernandes, P. J. Costa Branco, P. Amparo López-Jiménez and Helena M. Ramos
Water 2021, 13(10), 1359; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13101359 - 13 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2959
Abstract
Sustainability and efficiency in irrigation are essential in the management of the water–energy–food nexus to reach the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. In irrigation systems, the reduction of energy consumption is required to improve the system efficiency and consequently the sustainability indicators of [...] Read more.
Sustainability and efficiency in irrigation are essential in the management of the water–energy–food nexus to reach the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. In irrigation systems, the reduction of energy consumption is required to improve the system efficiency and consequently the sustainability indicators of the water network. The use of pumps working as turbines (PATs) has been a feasible solution to recover the excess of energy where pressure reduction valves are installed. This research demonstrates the use of PATs under steady and unsteady conditions by analyzing the application in a real irrigation networks located in Vallada (Valencia, Spain). The study shows the possibility of recovering 44 MWh/year using PATs installed upstream of the irrigation hydrants. The real behavior of the PAT operation in a stand-alone recovery energy solution allowed analysis of the flow, head and efficiency variation as a function of the rotational speed, as well as the minimum capacitance to self-excite the generator and the resistive load of the electrical circuit. The PAT limit is examined in terms of the overpressure induced by a fast closure manoeuvre of hydrants, and the runaway conditions due to the disconnection from the electrical load. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Recovery and Hybrid Solutions in the Water Sector)
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18 pages, 3104 KiB  
Article
Multi-Country Scale Assessment of Available Energy Recovery Potential Using Micro-Hydropower in Drinking, Pressurised Irrigation and Wastewater Networks, Covering Part of the EU
by Djordje Mitrovic, Miguel Crespo Chacón, Aida Mérida García, Jorge García Morillo, Juan Antonio Rodríguez Diaz, Helena M. Ramos, Kemi Adeyeye, Armando Carravetta and Aonghus McNabola
Water 2021, 13(7), 899; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13070899 - 25 Mar 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3610
Abstract
Studies have shown micro-hydropower (MHP) opportunities for energy recovery and CO2 reductions in the water sector. This paper conducts a large-scale assessment of this potential using a dataset amassed across six EU countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, and Portugal) for [...] Read more.
Studies have shown micro-hydropower (MHP) opportunities for energy recovery and CO2 reductions in the water sector. This paper conducts a large-scale assessment of this potential using a dataset amassed across six EU countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, and Portugal) for the drinking water, irrigation, and wastewater sectors. Extrapolating the collected data, the total annual MHP potential was estimated between 482.3 and 821.6 GWh, depending on the assumptions, divided among Ireland (15.5–32.2 GWh), Scotland (17.8–139.7 GWh), Northern Ireland (5.9–8.2 GWh), Wales (10.2–8.1 GWh), Spain (375.3–539.9 GWh), and Portugal (57.6–93.5 GWh) and distributed across the drinking water (43–67%), irrigation (51–30%), and wastewater (6–3%) sectors. The findings demonstrated reductions in energy consumption in water networks between 1.7 and 13.0%. Forty-five percent of the energy estimated from the analysed sites was associated with just 3% of their number, having a power output capacity >15 kW. This demonstrated that a significant proportion of energy could be exploited at a small number of sites, with a valuable contribution to net energy efficiency gains and CO2 emission reductions. This also demonstrates cost-effective, value-added, multi-country benefits to policy makers, establishing the case to incentivise MHP in water networks to help achieve the desired CO2 emissions reductions targets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Recovery and Hybrid Solutions in the Water Sector)
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12 pages, 1780 KiB  
Case Report
Hydroenergy Harvesting Assessment: The Case Study of Alviela River
by Pedro F. G. Oliveira, Nuno M. C. Martins, Pedro Fontes and Dídia Covas
Water 2021, 13(13), 1764; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131764 - 26 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2490
Abstract
The current paper aims to develop and to apply a methodology for assessing the hydroenergy harvesting potential in water systems taking into account both technical and economic aspects. The methodology is a five-step procedure: (i) data collection and analysis; (ii) technology identification; (iii) [...] Read more.
The current paper aims to develop and to apply a methodology for assessing the hydroenergy harvesting potential in water systems taking into account both technical and economic aspects. The methodology is a five-step procedure: (i) data collection and analysis; (ii) technology identification; (iii) energy harvesting assessment; (iv) economic analysis; and (v) final recommendation of the technological solution. The case study is located in the water source of the Alviela River, in Portugal. The energy harvesting potential is assessed for three turbine types, adequate for the 2.5 m available head: two propeller turbines, with and without adjustable blades, and the Archimedes screw turbine. Results show that the most feasible solution is the Archimedes screw turbine, with 3 m3/s rated discharge and 55 kW rated power, the capital cost of 160 k€, the internal rate of return above 10% and the payback period of eight years. This solution has the potential for harvesting energy in low-head sites with a wide range of flow rates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Recovery and Hybrid Solutions in the Water Sector)
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