Model predictive control for energy and leakage management in water distribution systems

This paper considers development of a methodology for an on-line energy and leakage management in water distribution systems, formulated within a model predictive control framework. The approach involves calculation of control actions, i.e. time schedules for pumps, valves and sources, to minimize the costs associated with energy used for water pumping and treatment and water losses due to leakage, whilst satisfying all operational constraints. The process of computing the control action utilises EPAnet hydraulic simulator, a mathematical modelling language called GAMS and a non-linear programming solver called CONOPT. The proposed control scheme has been integrated with an industrial SCADA system from ABB and interfaced with an actual medium-scale water distribution systems being part of Yorkshire Water Services. The scheme is currently being tested using on-line telemetry data. It has been operational for over 1 month with 1 hour sampling time and the preliminary results described in this paper indicate a potential for savings of 30% of the cost of electrical energy.