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 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.
Highlights
Significant proportions of water resources in the EU are consumed by the domestic drinking water (14%) and agricultural sectors (40–45%), respectively [1]
As previously shown in the results section, the analysis of the energy recovery potential with MHP technology in the water industry in the six European countries analysed, including drinking water, wastewater, and irrigation sectors, reached a total annual value of between 482.3 and 821.6 GWh, depending on the extrapolation method chosen for the drinking water sector
This is the case of Spain and Portugal, where both irrigation and drinking water sectors represented the largest share of the estimated potential
Summary
Significant proportions of water resources in the EU are consumed by the domestic drinking water (14%) and agricultural sectors (40–45%), respectively [1]. The energy consumption associated with pressurized water networks is estimated to represent 2–3%. Of global energy consumption [2]. A significant proportion of this is associated with the transport or distribution of water in pipe networks through pumping. The consumption of energy inherent in the extraction, treatment, and distribution of drinking water is a well-publicised area of concern for water utilities and their respective governments [3,4,5]. Energy consumption is high in the collection and treatment of wastewater [6]. Water networks of various kinds are associated with significant energy consumption
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