Smart Scheduling of Pump Control in Wastewater Networks Based on Electricity Spot Market Prices

• Published in: Water conservation science and engineering Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 79 - 94
• Main Authors: Do, Phuong, Jolfaei, Neda Gorjian, Gorjian, Nima, van der Linden, Leon, Ahammed, Faisal, Rameezdeen, Raufdeen, Jin, Bo, Chow, Christopher W. K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01-06-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Asset management; Bridges; Case studies; Controllers; Cost control; Earth and Environmental Science; Electricity; Electricity pricing; Energy consumption; Energy costs; Environment; Hydraulic models; Hydrology/Water Resources; Market prices; Operating costs; Optimization; Original Paper; Overflow; Pumping stations; Pumps; Rain; Scheduling; Sustainable Development; Switching; Wastewater; Water Industry/Water Technologies; Australia; South Australia Australia; Pump scheduling and operations control; Asset management; Wastewater network; Electricity spot market; Energy management; Optimization
• ISSN: 2366-3340; 2364-5687
• DOI: 10.1007/s41101-021-00104-1

Pumping stations in a wastewater network use predetermined high and low sump elevations to manage overflow and spills of the system, but the operation protocol, generally, does not consider energy costs related to pumps. For wastewater pumping, the largest segment of the operating cost is spent on electricity charges. Therefore, management of electricity use in wastewater operations is crucial. The purpose of this study is to develop a tool to assist asset operators to reduce electricity costs by improving and optimizing the pump control switching. With the consideration of the wholesale electricity prices from the spot market, there is an opportunity to improve efficiency and save costs by intelligent and smart scheduling control. A novel concept of utilizing the existing wastewater network hydraulic model to simulate the operations of the pump controller was undertaken. The sump elevation/wet well level and electricity spot prices were used as the two inputs of the smart controller to operate the pumps. Simulated results show that this smart controller could be a practical solution in terms of energy optimization and cost reduction to improve conventional pump switching models with up to 13% savings across the entire network under different dry and wet weather flow conditions.