Energy Recovery Optimization by Means of a Turbine in a Pressure Regulation Node of a Real Water Network Through a Data-Driven Digital Twin

In recent years, various devices have been proposed for pressure regulation and energy recovery in water distribution and transport networks. To provide a real net benefit, they require a dedicated long-distance management system in order to carry on both hydraulic regulation and electricity production without direct human manual operations. This work presents a new proposal for the management of a pressure regulation system based on the PRS turbine. The proposal is applied to a real water distribution network, named Montescuro Ovest pipeline, at the San Giovannello station. The Real Time Control (RTC) logic currently applied at San Giovannello station is first presented and discussed. A new Advanced Real Time Control (ARTC) logic is then proposed, based on direct configuration of the turbine and the surrounding valves as computed by the solution of an optimization problem. In ARTC a digital twin, including the hydraulic model of the surrounding network, provides a one-to-one relationship between the configuration parameters and the state variables, i.e. flow rates and pressures. The digital twin model equations are continuously updated on the basis of the recorded measures. Besides providing almost identical performance to the current RTC logic in the current operational scenario, the improved ARTC is more robust, in that it guarantees better hydropower generation in modified operational scenarios, as shown in specific tests. The proposed methodology constitutes a new approach to regulating the valves in hydroelectric plants which are currently regulated with traditional automation algorithms.