Abstract
Current and future smart cities are moving towards the zero-net energy use concept. To this end, the built environment should also be designed for efficient energy use and play a significant role in the production of such energy. At present, this is achieved by focusing on energy demand in buildings and to the renewable trade-off related to smart power grids. However, urban water distribution systems constantly carry an excess of hydraulic energy that can potentially be recovered to produce electricity. This paper presents a comprehensive review of current strategies for energy production by reviewing the state-of-the-art of smart water systems. New technologies (such as cyber-physical systems, digital twins, blockchain) and new methodologies (network dynamics, geometric deep learning) associated with digital water are also discussed. The paper then focuses on modelling the installation of both micro-turbines and pumps as turbines, instead of/together with pressure reduction valves, to further demonstrate the energy-recovery methods which will enable water network partitioning into district metered areas. The associated benefits on leakage control, as a source of energy, and for contributing to overall network resilience are also highlighted. The paper concludes by presenting future research directions. Notably, digital water is proposed as the main research and operational direction for current and future Water Distribution Systems (WDS) and as a holistic, data-centred framework for the operation and management of water networks.
Highlights
Cities are stressed worldwide predominantly due to significant population growth
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were used to predict the pump as turbine (PAT) performance [66,67], and it was found that the best efficiency point (BEP) of a PAT in turbine mode is up to 8.5% lower than the BEP in pumping mode
Overall, working by district metered areas (DMAs) improves the capacity of the system to respond and recover from both normal and extreme events, allowing for better reorganisation and a smarter management of the water network, even if leads to a general reduction in energy
Summary
Cities are stressed worldwide predominantly due to significant population growth. Global population has increased by 1500 million people in the last 20 years. The challenges for city authorities goes beyond managing growing cities, since as cities develop, their exposure to extreme weather events increases [1] Given these current and future scenarios, academics and industry have put in effort over the last two decades towards reducing buildings’ energy use [2]. The paper proposed presents an overview of the literature on smart WDSs with respect to energy recovery and water losses due to leakage. Digital water is proposed as the main research and operational direction for current and future WDSs. The paper closes with a conclusions section where the main findings and challenges found in the paper are revisited
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