Energy Efficiency Optimization in Water Distribution Systems

The evaluation of energy efficiency in water supply systems should account for both actual energy consumed and how efficiently such energy is spent. This work proposes the new concept of Unavoidable Minimum Energy, as the reference for defining an energy efficiency indicator. The aim is to search for possible optimal network configurations that minimize energy consumption and maximize the energy efficiency, acting on the main structural parameters of the system (pipe diameters, leakage rate) and considering the pump efficiency as well. The optimization process is carried out by coupling the heuristic algorithm GHEST with the EPANET solver and applied to a literature synthetic case study.