Electricity Usage in Water Distribution Networks

The electricity usage with respect to water distribution systems is examined for the particular case of Ontario. The case is made that the integration of conservation and energy efficiency measures between the utilities would leverage investments better than isolated efforts. The similarities between water and energy production are highlighted and potential energy savings for water distribution systems are presented. Preliminary calculations of these savings yielded a 11–27 MW power reduction over the daily cycle for leakage protection. These values were derived from the gross, yet conservative total of 57 MW, if all the leakage in hydraulic conduits was contained. Electrical load shifting (peak shaving) through active pumping for water distribution systems yielded a potential between 450 and 100 MW of freed up generation. It should be noted that the higher value of 450 is still conservative and that this could be significantly higher for the province if distributed storage was actively implemented.