All News A–Z

Attending the Water Industry Energy and Carbon Management Conference in Birmingham

John and Jennifer attended the Energy and Carbon Management Conference in Birmingham on the 24th of September in Birmingham. In attendance was a mix of water company representatives working in sustainability and innovation. They all shared experiences and case studies as to how they are meeting energy and carbon targets. In addition, a number of renewable companies, consultancies and two Hydro-BPT researchers. The conference as a whole was one of the most interesting to attending, as the energy and carbon priorities, through promoting efficiency and adopting renewables was great to hear. The later was of most interest to the Hydro-BPT team as we realise that as water companies aim to meet their carbon targets the more important micro-hydropower (MHP) can be in achieving this. One of the speakers was Mike Pedley from Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and who sits on the project steering committee for Hydro-BPT. His talk was one of many engaging presentations and the range of speakers was well organised. Mike's comment in relation to the challenge of recieving FITs for MHP is still the main stumbling block to the uptake of the technology. A group has been set up which Mike is part of to push on clarificaiton for the feasibility of FITs for these sites, where pumping may be connected to the network but is only used 1 day per year and creates a loophole for recieving financial gain. For the conference agenda, visit www.wwt-energy.net/21101.

Christine Power presents at Falling Walls Lab in Berlin, November 2011

The Falling Walls Lab took place on the 8th of November, 2011 in Berlin, Germany, the day before the main Falling Walls Conference on the 9th of November. The Conference itself had a number of big name speakers from different fields (http://falling-walls.com/speakers/speakers-2011/). The idea of the event was to connect people from different research areas to look at global challenges and to make research understandable to a broad audience. The Falling Walls Lab has the same objective, bringing together 100 young researchers from across Europe to give a 3 minute presentation on their research and how it can deal with some of the global challenges faced in today’s world. Christine Power from the Hydro-BPT project team was one of the lucky presenters, as they were chosen on a competition basis. As part of their selection, they were also given passes to the main conference. Christine’s presentation gave an overview of the problems facing the wastewater industry (high emissions, energy costs etc) and how hydropower as a possible solution to this. More information regarding the Falling Walls Lab can be found at http://falling-walls.com/lab/.

Conferences, conferences and more conferences this month for Hydro-BPT team

The Hydro-BPT team have been busy sharing, discussing and networking at a number of International Conferences over the past few weeks. Tracey attended the IWA Water Ideas conference in Bologna and presented on ‘Energy Efficiency of Water: Analysis Pumps-as-Turbines to Recover Energy in Distribution Networks’. Lucy presented on the ‘Optimisation of Water Supply for Combined Leakage Reduction and Hydropower Energy Generation’ at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition. Also, John attended the anviR conference to present his work and his presentation was entitled ‘Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Micro-hydropower in the Water Industry using Life Cycle Assessment’. The team have been busy as members from Bangor and Trinity also met in Barcelona at the EIP Water Conference to discuss future funding opportunities with some existing and new European research and industry contacts. Lastly, Jennifer presented a summary poster of the Hydro-BPT project in Ireland at the DCU Water Institute conference 'Water: The Greatest Global Challenge' onthe 27/28th November. The conference focused on water related reseaerch adn technologies.

Dr Prysor Williams presentation of Hydro-BPT project to Jane Hutt AM

The Welsh Minister for Finance, Jane Hutt AM, visited Bangor University on Tuesday the 23rd of July. As part of her visit, the Hydro-BPT team were asked to present some of their work to the Minister and other Welsh Government staff, in addition to Bangor University's Vice-Chancellor John Hughes. The presentation was given by the Bangor Hydro-BPT Principal Investigator, Dr. A. Prysor Williams. Dr. Williams gave an overview presentation of the water industry and the challenges facing the sustainability of the sector, and detailed the work carried out by the Hydro-BPT team to assess the techincal, economic and environmental potential of micro-hydropower. The presentation raised questions by the minister with regards to the involvement of organisations like Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water in this project, to which Hydro-BPT have ensured that they are represented as a project stakeholder and actively involved in steering committee meetings.

ENVIRON 2014, Dublin - Tracey & John present latest Hydro-BPT work

Tracey Lydon & John Gallagher both attended the ENVIRON 2014 conference held in Trinity College Dublin at the end of February. They presented to an international audience of researchers and policy makers from various backgrounds in environmental science. Tracey’s presentation was entitled ‘Energy Efficiency of Water: Analysis of Pumps-as-turbines replacing Pressure Reducing Valves in Distribution Networks’. The presentation focused on experimental analysis of pumps-as-turbines (PATs) in order to determine their viability of replacing pressure reducing valves in distribution networks (WDN).  The analysis includes verifying PATs efficiency for typical diurnal flow patterns representative of the WDN and related optimal arrangements and adjustments of PAT arrangements, which are conducive to highest energy recovery, with the aim of resulting in more energy efficient water distribution. John presented some of his work on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Micro-hydropower (MHP) installations. His presentation was entitled ‘Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Micro-hydropower in the Water Industry’. The ongoing work presents the environmental impacts associated with MHP as the embodied carbon within the materials of a renewable energy project are generally not reported. The presentation discussed the procedure related to carrying out a LCA and showed the results from several case studies. The conclusions from the studies showed a low carbon payback for the case studies range from 0.1-0.7 years in comparison to an economic payback of 5-10 years.

EU project to support water industry in Wales and Ireland

A £2.5m EU-backed project to improve the long-term sustainability of water supply in Wales and Ireland has been announced by Finance and Government Business Minister, Jane Hutt. The Dŵr Uisce project aims to improve the efficiency of water distribution by developing new low carbon energy-saving technology, including micro-hydropower turbines. The technology will be trialled in both nations before being launched on the commercial market. The project also aims to build the capacity for innovation in the water industry by investigating how new practices can meet the challenges faced in Wales and Ireland due to environmental and climate change. Led by Trinity College Dublin in partnership with Bangor University, the five-year project has been backed by £2m of EU funds through the EU’s Ireland-Wales co-operation programme. Finance Minister, Jane Hutt, said: “The Ireland Wales programme is a unique partnership between both our nations that provides an excellent platform to do business and address common challenges and opportunities which cut across our sea border. “The programme is also another valuable source of EU investment, and I’m delighted that £2m of EU funds will enable Trinity College Dublin and Bangor University to take forward a project with such important potential for our water industry.” Stephen Blair, Director of Ireland’s Southern Regional Assembly, said: “The Dŵr Uisce project is an excellent example of a collaborative cross border project that will deliver positive economic and environmental impacts in both Ireland and Wales.” The £75m cooperation programme aims to strengthen economic links between Wales and Ireland, and support cross-border initiatives around climate change, natural resources, innovation, heritage and tourism. The Dŵr Uisce project is the first to be funded under the new Ireland-Wales programme, which will benefit people and communities within the south-east region of Ireland and the north and west of Wales. Dŵr Uisce are the Welsh and Irish words for ‘water.’ Dr Prysor Williams, from Bangor University's School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography, said: “The work within the Dŵr Uisce project will help achieve those environmental and economic ‘win–wins’ that are so important for Wales to meet its ambitious targets in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “Securing this EU funding is excellent news, and we are looking forward to bringing our expertise to a project that will have significant benefits for Welsh industries, consumers, and the wider environment.” Dr Aonghus McNabola, from Trinity College Dublin, said: “The water industry in Ireland and Wales is the fourth most energy intensive sector in both countries and contributes heavily to carbon emissions. “The Dŵr Uisce project will make significant advances in improving energy efficiency in this sector and will have important environmental and economic impacts on the region.”

EurOMA Conference 2013 - Operational Improvements another key driver for impact of Hydro-BPT on sustainability of water industry.

The 20th European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) Conference took place in Dublin from the 7th – 12th of June, with over 600 delegates, and Hydro-BPT was represented by both John Gallagher and Paul Coughlan at the event. The EurOMA conference (http://www.euroma2013.org/) brought together international experts in operations management. The paper submitted to the conference by the hydro-BPT team was entitled Operations Improvement through Energy Recovery in Water Supply and Treatment: Assessing the Potential for Improved Environmental Sustainability. The paper looked at the environmental impacts of potential micro-hydropower (MHP) installations by the water and how this can be a driving force for operation improvements in the water industry. The findings from the paper were presented by John Gallagher from the Bangor Hydro-BPT team, with Paul Coughlan also in attendance. An audience of experts in operations management from across the globe attended the presentation in the area of Sustainability in Operations and Supply Chain Management. The feedback and questions from the audience were positive and constructive for the papers author’s, and the attendees saw opportunities for the applications of the life cycle assessment as a driver for other renewable energy systems and as an underlying force for the sustainability of the water industry in Ireland and Wales.

How to take the pressure off the cost of our water supply

For most people in the developed world, getting access to clean drinking water is as simple as turning on a tap. Would that paying for water were so simple. But when we think about the water we consume, few of us realise that as much as 80% of its cost is associated with electricity use – a figure that’s as high in Britain as in drought-prone California. This article by John Gallagher, Postdoctoral Researcher, at the School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography, Bangor University was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Hydro-BPT 2nd Annual Steering Committee Meeting - 10th Sept 2013

The second annual Hydro-BPT Steering Committee meeting took place in Bangor University on the 10th of September to meet the Hydro-BPT team, with representatives from Welsh and Irish water companies (Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and Irish Water), industry (Dulas and Zeropex) and National Trust Wales. The meeting agenda included presentations from the Hydro-BPT team in the following areas of engineering, environmental science and business: 'the Water Network: Analysis & Optimisation', 'the Waste Water Network', 'at small PRV sites', 'Environmental Impact and Carbon Footprint of Hydro' and the 'Organisation for Hydro Energy Recovery'. These presentations were followed by indepth discussions between the stakeholders and the Hydro-BPT team. The meeting sets the project in a favourable light for the rest of 2013 and into 2014 with further collaboration proposed between the team and the project stakeholders.

Hydro-BPT article in latest British Hydro Association newletter

The latest overview and update of the Hydro-BPT project was published in the latest edition of the British Hydro Association (BHA) 'Spotlight' newletter. The article entitled Energy recovery in the UK water industry: the Hydro-BPT Vision outlines the latest news from the project and maintains the continued objective of project promotion by the Hydro-BPT team.

Hydro-BPT at CIWEMs Hydromorphology and Hydropower Conference, London

John from the Hydro-BPT team attended CIWEM's 'Hydromorphology and Hydropower' Conference in London on Tuesday the 12th of November. The conference covered the 'issue of hydromorphology in the context of the Water Framework Directive and the developing programme of hydropower generation.' The majority of conference delegates represented goverment bodies such as the Environment Agency and National Resources Wales, but representatives from Environmental Organisations, Renewable Industry and Research Institutes. John was in attendance to assess the current state of affairs and what is foreseen for the coming years for hydropower installations in rivers as the Hydro-BPT look at the future of hydropower outside the water industry. The main topic discussed during the conference related to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and the overall health of rivers in the UK, the existence of weirs throughout rivercources in the UK and the impacts related to the installation of hydropower at weirs locations. The strong message from the conference was the need for guidance on ensuring the health of rivers are maintained and that, in some cases, hydropower can complement the existing infrastructure without disrupting the health of rivers. The conference schedule was attached here and the conference outputs (presentations) are here.

Hydro-BPT @ Future Voices 2011: How Ireland’s PhDs will enable National Recovery

The Hydro-BPT project was represented at the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) Future Voices competition, which took place in Dublin Castle on 7th September ‘11, in a session which was opened by the Minister for Education, Mr Ruairi Quinn. The Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) is a strategic alliance of the Higher Education sector in the wider Dublin city-region and is funded by the Higher Education Authority’s Strategic Innovation Fund. It was created to strengthen the higher education sector in the Dublin region and underpin a competitive advantage in the European and wider international context. PhD students from all disciplines in the Dublin-region universities and institutes of technology were invited to submit an abstract and a poster outlining their how research will enable national recovery. There was a very high level of competition with nearly 70 submissions, from which 10 presentations were shortlisted to compete in the final in Dublin Castle. The applications were assessed on the quality of the abstract and poster, the relevance to the theme of national recovery, the potential impact of the research on national recovery and the originality of the submission. Of the Six Trinity students who were shortlisted to make a three-minute presentation of their work. Of these six TCD participants, this included a joint presentation by Lucy Corcoran and Christine Power on their research project entitled ‘An investigation of the technical, economic and commercial feasibility of energy recovery in the water industry’. The winner was NUI Maynooth student Ciaran O'Carroll with his research presentation titled, “Crustaceans: What Have They Done for Us Lately?”. He winner received €500 and an Apple iPAD and the runner-up (Aidan Quilligan, TCD) received an Apple iPAD.

Hydro-BPT lab experiments - behind the scenes...

So what are the PhD students working on at the moment? Tracey and Christine and beginning their final year of their PhD, and are both undertaking experiments in relation to potential micro-hydropower installations by water companies. Christine is examining the potential for energy recovery at wastewater treatment plants. Based on a case study in Ireland, she is working on an experimental system for a gravitational vortex turbine. This can potnetially generate electricity by working with the vortex that is created naturally within the tank. Tracey is undertaking a range of experiments to examine pumps as turbines (PaTs) as a cheaper solution to current market turbines. Understanding the efficiencies of a PaT and how this option can potentially be a more cost effective solution for energy recovery in water infrastructure is an important challenge that needs to be addressed for micro installation to be successful. Both pieces of lab work will help progress the Hydro-BPT vision of the impact of micro-hydropower in water and wastewater infrastructure on the future sustainability of the water industry.

Hydro-BPT project listed in Connecting Low Carbon Wales report by LCEE Innovation

The Low Carbon Energy and Environment Network (LCEE) for Wales has published a report as part of LCEE Innovation. The Hydro-BPT is one of the projects discussed in the report and gives details of what Hydro-BPT is all about. The report will be available online soon at the LCEE website here. The report state that "the LCEE Innovation Network is intended to build relationships between academia, enterprise, communities and policy makers to support and develop sustainable production systems to adapt and mitigate climate change through development of integrated renewable energy and sustainable land use strategies. Identifying synergies between developing research in Wales and its potential global application can help businesses and communities bring that research into the real world and create genuine and lasting benefits." The work is funded by the Welsh Government’s Academic Expertise for Business Fund (A4B) and managed from Aberystwyth University in collaboration with the Centre for Solar Energy Research (CSER), Glyndwr University and Bangor University.

Hydro-BPT Project Pesented at IWA World Congress on Water, Climate & Energy in Dublin

The International Water Association (IWA) World Congress on Water, Climate & Energy Conference which tool place in Dublin in May 2012. The IWA is the global network of research and industry professionals in the water sector. The Hydro-BPT project was presented at the conference by Christine Power and Lucy Corcoran as their research of energy recovery in the water industry using hydropower technology and promoted increased sustainability in the water industry. Their research papers will be published in the 2012 Conference Journal in 2013.

Hydro-BPT Project Presented at Annual EU Day, Welsh Government Offices in North Wales (9th May 2013)

The second annual EU day was held in the Welsh Government Offices in Llandudno. It was hosted by Roger Seddon from the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and brought together the vast range of projects funded as part of the Inter-Regional Co-operation Programme (INTERREG IV), which is an Ireland / Wales Cross Border programme partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Hydro-BPT was represented as one of the 41 exciting projects funded through INTERREG and the theme of the presentation was the impacts of the project in Wales: an overview of the project, the partners and project costs, and what is has and will deliver over the project duration.

Hydro-BPT project presented at SPI-Water Conference in Brussels

The SPI-Water conference was held in Brussels on the 3rd and 4th of December and John Gallagher represented the Hydro-BPT project team at this event. John gave a poster presentation to a European audience from various backgrounds in research, policy and industry in water the water industry. The conference was organised by the SPI-Water cluster to engage with the various stakeholders in the water sector. The conference speakers included researchers, policy makers and industry experts. In addition, the findings from the conference workshops fed into a roadmap developed by the SPI-Water cluster and was distributed in European Parliament after the conference proceedings.

Hydro-BPT project presented at SPI-Water Conference in Brussels

The SPI-Water conference was held in Brussels on the 3rd and 4th of December and John Gallagher represented the Hydro-BPT project team at this event. John gave a poster presentation to a European audience from various backgrounds in research, policy and industry in water the water industry. The conference was organised by the SPI-Water cluster to engage with the various stakeholders in the water sector. The conference speakers included researchers, policy makers and industry experts. In addition, the findings from the conference workshops fed into a roadmap developed by the SPI-Water cluster and this was distributed in European Parliament after the conference proceedings.

Hydro-BPT Project receives a 6 Month €100,000 Extension

Recently, the Hydro-BPT project successfully won a bid for a 6 month 100k extension grant. This allows the team to widen the scope from just BPTs to include Reservoirs, Valves and Treatment Works. The project will now run until October 2014.

Hydro-BPT Project Team visit Cefni Reservoir and Water Treatment Works

As part of the quarterly Hydro-BPT project team meeting which took place in December 2012, a visit to Llyn Cefni Reservoir and Treatment works was organised. The site is located outside the town of Llangefni in Anglesey, Wales. The treatment works is one of the many sites in Wales run by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Cefni Reservoir and Water Treatment Works which treats and supplies 6,900 m3/day (80 l/s) using approximately 7250 kW/day. As part of the tour of the water treatment works, the team got to see the current pumping facilities (as shown in the next figure). Six Large pumps are located on site and ensure the continuous supply of water to the local communities on Anglesey. A pressure reducing valve (PRV) is also located on the site, but is currently not in use. The purpose of the PRV is for water supply from other parts of Wales due to any failure on site to supply water to Anglesey. This PRV is one of over 170 PRVs located in Wales and the majority of these PRVs are currently active. The Hydro-BPT project aims to assess the feasibility of replacing these PRVs with micro-hydro turbines, which could generate power and could feed into the local grid.

Hydro-BPT representatives meet Irish President at INTERREG event in Swansea

Last week, Prysor and Aonghus attended an Ireland-Wales INTERREG event organised for the Irish Presidents visit to Wales. Both met with President Michael D Higgins and spoke to him about our work. It was an opportunity to showcase the project.

Hydro-BPT represented at ENVIRON 2013 Conference, 30th Jan – 1st Feb NUI Galway, Ireland.

The Hydro-BPT team was represented at the 23rd Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium in NUI Galway by Dr Aonghus McNabola and John Gallagher for the three day event. The ENVIRON conference was organised by the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland (ESAI) and aims to brings together people from various environmental backgrounds from both research and industry in Ireland and beyond. The conference theme is 2013 was entitled “Environment: From Ecosystem Functioning to Human Health” and an oral presentation was given in the Environmental Management session and a project poster was displayed under the Climate Change theme by the Hydro-BPT team. The research carried out by the Hydro-BPT team fitted well with the theme of the opening Q&A conference debate “Securing Ireland’s Energy Future” which took place on the opening evening of the ENVIRON conference. The oral presentation given during one of the Environmental Management sessions by John Gallagher was entitled “Life Cycle Energy and Environmental Balance of Micro-Hydro Turbines in the Water Industry: An Ireland-Wales Context”. The project poster was also on display during the conference and was entitled “Energy Recovery in the Water Industry: A Technical, Environmental and Economic Feasibility Study in Ireland and Wales” and gave a detailed overview of the Hydro-BPT project. The annual ENVIRON conference was a useful event for the dissemination of the research carried out by the Hydro-BPT team to a research and industry audience from all corners of Ireland. From the opening Q&A session of the conference, the future of energy in Ireland is a challenge and projects such as that of Hydro-BPT will pave the way for improved sustainability in the industry and reduce the associated environmental impacts associated with the energy demands of the water sector. 

Hydro-BPTs latest Multi-media offering: Tracey Lydon’s PhD ‘Micro Hydro Energy Recovery’ video

As part of a current course undertaken by Tracey Lydon in the Innovation Academy, she has made a short three and a half minute video describing the aims and objectives of her PhD. This can be seen on YouTube and is titled ‘Micro Hydro Energy Recovery’. It gives an overview of her PhD and outlines what the Hydro-BPT project is all about. This is the third instalment of videos made by the three PhD candidates for the project as Christine Power and Lucy Corcoran have also made videos specific to their own research.

Hydro-BPT team attend Sustainable Water 2013 Conference in London

The Sustainable Water 2013 Conference was held in London on the 10th and 11th of September and brought together representatives from water companies across the UK with an interest in the future of the water industry: dealing with challenges in “infrastructure, demand management, resilience and resource management strategies.” Day two of the conference was attended by Prysor Williams and John Gallagher of the Bangor Hydro-BPT team, with all the session themes of ‘Water Security and Regulatory Considerations’, ‘Resilience and Integrated Resource Management’, ‘Energy Optimisation and Resource Recovery’, ‘Climate Change – Driving Innovation’ and ‘Water Reuse and Energy Reduction’ being of interest to the team. The session’s speakers represented almost all of the water companies in the UK, in addition to key organisations such as the Environment Agency and Defra, and researchers from Cranfield University.

Hydro-BPT team meets with National Trust Wales – Sharing expertise and information for micro-hydropower installations

On the 30th of May, some of the Bangor Hydro-BPT team met with representatives from National Trust Wales: Keith Jones and Paul Southall, who are Environmental Advisors for the Trust and involved in all forms of renewable energy installations in Wales. For more information regarding the projects carried out by the National Trust in Wales, visit the website and Keith’s blog updates. Both groups met as they shared a similar interest; they share a common desire to assess the environmental impact of MHP installations. The hydro-BPT team are currently carrying out life cycle assessments (LCAs) for hydro installation in the water industry infrastructure, but working with the National Trust can allow for the assessment of the environmental impacts of run-off-river hydro installations and provide a value for the ‘environmental payback’ in addition to the ‘economic payback’. For more information click here. Both the Hydro-BPT Bangor University team and National Trust Wales are very interested in the outcome and results from this project.

Hydro-BPT visits Gilkes Factory and meets with staff to discuss hydropower

On Friday the 17th of November, John Gallagher visited Gilkes in Kendal, Cumbria to meet with staff and to see the work involved in turbine manufacturing. Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd is a engineering company that have been invovled in manufacturing turbines for over 160 years. The visit to Gilkes was to discuss the work carried out by the Hydro-BPT team on assessing the environmental impacts of hydro installations and to see the factory floor where turbines are being constructed for project stakeholders such as Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, National Trust Wales and Dulas. The factory construct Francis, Pelton and Turgo turbines and have build turbines that generate up to 40MW. The hydro industry has expanded significantly in the past few years and Gilkes have gone from strength to strength. From the visit, it was also clear that as the business is evolving so is the technology in constructing the turbines and the amount of work that is required to design, construct and deliver a turbine can take up to a year in some cases. The meeting and visit to Gilkes was positive and it was good to see the process of turbine manufacturing. It is hoped that Gilkes will attend the 2014 stakeholder committee meeting and can contribute to the future directions of the Hydro-BPT project.

Hydro-BPT working with the National Trust Wales on Carbon Footprinting of Hydro's

So, thanks to Keith Jones from the National Trust Wales for sharing our work via his blog. See below for all that he said on or carbon footprinting of one of their three Hydros we are examining. To visit this great blog on all that is renewable energy by National Trust Wales, click here or visit http://ntenvironmentalwork.net/.

It's a wrap for Hydro-BPT (for the meantime...)

There is a concealed cost to the water flowing from our taps water, and that is the energy needed to treat and pump our water from the source reservoir directly to our taps. As the price of electricity increases, consumer prices are also on the rise. The Hydro-BPT project aimed to look at the efficiency of water supply and the potential for micro-hydropower (MHP) installations by the water industry. Since 2011, the Hydro-BPT project has focused on identifying and overcoming the challenges, whether technical, economic, environmental or organisational, to implementing MHP in water and wastewater infrastructure. Simply put, we aimed to identify the best technology, how much its costs, the environmental impacts and who must work together to make MHP a success. The €1 million ERDF Ireland-Wales Programme (INTERREG IV) funded project was made up of researchers from Bangor University and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The multi-disciplinary research team engaged with water companies and other organisations to answer the questions posed by the challenges facing MHP technology. The support or the water industry, as they try to control the price of water and reduce their carbon emissions, was evident in their involvement and in the production of their future development programmes. Therefore, the work by the Hydro-BPT team has fed into, and provided evidence, for the inclusion of MHP in strategic plans for the future of the water industry. The project comes to an end this month (June 2015). The team helped inform water companies in Wales and Ireland of these micro-opportunities and how they might implement these projects. Not only this, but the project has demonstrated its impact on the future sustainability of water supply, which links to water prices, on a national scale. At the launch of the teams Project Insights Report and public talk at Bangor University, the work completed by the project team was presented. In both countries, the project identified the potential to generate 20 GWh, which equates to savings for the water companies of approximately €2.5 (£1.9) million annually. This requires significant investment, but in the long term it can help control the increasing cost of water supply for consumers. The project has drawn considerable interest from across the world, and with that demonstrates its potential for replication on a global scale. Future development projects are being planned both at a regional level in Ireland and Wales, but also on a European scale. The water industry is demonstrating an awareness of energy efficiency, and the work of the Hydro-BPT team can help them achieve a more sustainable future.

Jennifer Brady joins Hydro-BPT team in Trinity

A new post-doctoral researcher has joined the ranks on the Hydro-BPT project team in Trinity College Dublin. Jennifer Brady has joined the team on April 1st for the rest of the duration of the project. Jennifer is an environmental science graduate and is presently at the final stages of her Ph.D. in water demand management at Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on gaining a detailed understanding of factors influencing domestic water consumption in Ireland together with an in-depth assessment of attitudinal and behavioural aspects surrounding water usage. This is a multi-disciplinary project combining the areas of environmental science, social science, psychology and economics and involved analysis of domestic water consumption across metered group water scheme households. She has previously worked in freshwater ecology research at the Department of Zoology, TCD.

John Gallagher attends Water Industry Innovation Conference in Birmingham

The Water Industry Innovation Conference takes place once again in 2014, with John Gallagher from the Hydro-BPT in attendance. The line-up of speakers represented the different players in driving innovation in the water industry: the water companies, engineering and technology firms and the regulators. All speakers representing their organisations shared the same view: innovation is key to the future of sustainability in the water industry and continued investment is needed to achieve this. Leakage statistics have improved in recent years, yet expenditure on R&D remains a small fraction of the total spends of water companies. In John's opinion, for the findings of the Hydro-BPT project to really make an impact i..e MHP implemented across the Water Infrastructure in Ireland and Wales, water companies have to be willing to see beyond their 3-5 year investment programme and adopt a more long term vision of the benefits of energy recovery in the water industry. Anglian Water should be noted for their 15 year contracts to promote innovation and their objective to halve their embodied carbon of 2010 projects by 2015. Bigger steps are being taken by some water companies, but all are taking small steps in the right direction.

Latest Hydro-BPT paper in Trinity College Dublin's JPR Journal vol.12

The latest Hydro-BPT paper has been published in the TCD JPR volume 12 by Lucy Corcoran. The paper title 'Research on Common Ground’ examined the engineering and organisational aspects of Micro-hydropower in the water industry. The hardcopy is only currently available, but the abstract is below. Modern water supply is becoming increasingly unsustainable from both an economic and environmental perspective. The supply and treatment of water is highly energy intensive, resulting in large amounts of CO2 emissions as well as incurring large economic costs. Aging pipes result in large water losses due to leakage. This research investigates the improvement of the sustainability of water supply networks through the installation of hydropower turbines at locations of excess pressure within the network. These turbines act to both reduce pressure, hence reducing leakage, as well as generating much needed renewable energy to feed back into water supply and treatment processes. Water service providers are in need of new, improved methods, both to design more sustainable water supply networks, and also, to engage in collaborative organisational networks more effectively in order to ensure successful implementation and replication of collaborative projects. This interdisciplinary research conducted between the Schools of Business and Engineering at TCD, investigates both the engineering and business perspectives on this issue which is of societal and commercial relevance. This paper presents technical results of a feasibility study of the hydropower potential of the water supply networks of Ireland and Wales using pressure and flow data collected from water service providers. In this paper, methods of collaboration between the water industry and research institutions are investigated. A historic case study of an energy recovery project in the Irish water supply network and its implications for future projects is presented.

Latest Hydro-BPT paper published by Water Policy Journal

The latest Hydro-BPT paper was published in the IWA journal Water Policy entitled "Energy recovery in the water industry using micro-hydropower: an opportunity to improve sustainability". The paper examines the economic, environmental and organisational challenges faced by the water industry in implementing micro-hydropower in its infrastructure. Renewable energy is a growing sector, but this paper discusses the engineering challenges of small scale hydro, the environmental impacts i.e. the carbon footprint of hydro installations (there is associated concrete and steel needed to construct them) and the organisational element to business collaboration of the water companies. This multidisciplinary project brings these three aspects together and examines the true potential of micro-hydropower on a national scale. Abstract: The water industry as a whole consumes a considerable amount of energy in the treatment and distribution of water and wastewater. Like all sectors of society today, the industry is focusing efforts on reducing its CO2 emissions and improving the sustainability of its systems and practices. One way of achieving this is through the use of micro-hydropower (MHP) installations in water infrastructure for energy recovery purposes. This paper presents a review of energy use and CO2 emissions in the water industry as well as highlighting the opportunities and challenges for MHP energy recovery. The results indicate that significant potential exists for energy recovery in the water industry. However, many previous investigations have not considered key complexities such as variations in flows or turbine efficiency. Similarly, accurate costing and return on investment data are often absent or lacking sensitivity analysis. Further research is required to address the risks and long-term reliability of installations, alongside the development of firm policy to direct and incentivise sustainability gains in this area. The full paper can be found here.

Latest Hydro-BPT paper published in CIWEMs Water & Environment Journal

The latest journal publication by the Hydro-BPT team has been published in the latest edition of Water & Environment Journal produced on behalf of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). The paper is entitled 'Energy recovery in the water industry an assessment of the potential of micro-hydropower' and examines the energy, environmental and economic savings of hydropower in the water infrastructure. Water supply is a core service on which civilised society depends. It involves considerable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and costs. As such, scientific efforts in the water industry in recent years have focused on improving the sustainability of water supply. This paper examines the potential for energy recovery in the water industry which may be exploited through the use of mini or micro-hydropower installations. A case study of water infrastructure in Ireland is included in the analysis to highlight the potential of this concept in practice. The results of this investigation show that in certain circumstances significant energy, environmental and economic savings are available with modest investment. You can find the full publication by clicking here.

Launch of Ireland-Wales Cooperation Event - Hydro-BPT meets Finance Ministers and look to the future

Representatives from the Hydro-BPT team once again were fortunate enough to be invited to present their work at the official launch of the new Ireland-Wales Co-operation programme, "An EU funding programme that will invest around £75 million to strengthen economic links between Wales and Ireland." The team presented their work to the Ministers and all attendees to the launch event and recieved positive feedback from different organisations. The project aims to move on to the next stage and develop new opportunities through European and Regional funding streams to increase the impact of their work to date. Watch this space...

Loads of potential for energy recovery in water infrastructure, but how many sites are truly feasible?

Loads of potential for energy recovery in water infrastructure, but how many sites are truly feasible? One of the key objectives of the project is to shortlist the logistics of potential for energy recovery throughout water and wastewater infrastructure. Lots of sites exist, but what makes them technically and economically viable is more challenging to determine. The team’s latest piece of work aims to answer some of these questions by providing a stepped methodology for assessment of all sites. The work has just recently been accepted as a journal paper in Renewable Energy which is entitled “A strategic assessment of micro-hydropower in the UK and Irish water industry: Identifying technical and economic constraints”. In summary, of the 238 sites that we assessed 80 of those are the most viable and can generate 17.9 GWh per annum. This equates to savings of €2.5 million a year, offsetting 10,000 tonnes of CO2 and generating enough electricity for 4,700 homes. To download the paper, click here. Or for more information on the work.

Lucy Corcoran attends 9th International Symposium on Water Supply Technology in Yokohama, Japan

The 9th International Symposium on Water Supply Technology was held in Yokohama, Japan on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of November 2012. Lucy Corcoran, representing the Hydro-BPT project, presented her paper on the energy recovery potential in water supply networks of Ireland using micro-hydro turbines. This oral presentation was made during the technical session 'Pipeline technology for handing to the next generation' and was well received, in particular with the Japan Water Research Centre (JWRC).  On the final day of the conference, Lucy attended the technical tour, a visit to the Kawai Purification Plant, which is currently undergoing major renewal works. The new plant, which will see the introduction of a ceramic membrane filtration system, is due to be operated in 2014. There is also currently a 270kW capacity micro hydro power turbine installed at the treatment works.

March 2012 - Hydro-BPT attend Welsh Assembly Meeting to present research on hydrpower in Wales.

An invitation from the Welsh Assembly was received in February 2012 to attend a committee meeting on discuss the potential of hydropower in Wales. On the 1st of March 2012, Dr. Aonghus McNabola presented the aims and objectives of the Hydro-BPT project at this event. The presentation was made to the National Assembly for Wales’ Environment and Sustainability Committee. The interest of the committee in the project was due to a current enquiry into energy policy and planning and Wales. The Committee will consider how the current devolution arrangements for energy policy and planning affect the delivery of the Welsh Government’s desired future ’energy mix’ in Wales, as set out in A Low Carbon Revolution – Energy Policy Statement (2010) and the UK Renewable Energy Roadmap (2011).

Micro-hydropower electricity generation could save the water industry millions

New research findings from Bangor University and Trinity College Dublin have highlighted the potential for further cost savings from micro-hydropower. Savings of up to an additional £1m a year in Wales alone could help keep water bills down.

The water industry consumes a vast amount of energy due to the need to treat, pump and distribute water and wastewater around the country. This results in large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions as well as significant costs that can add to consumer water bills as the price of electricity increases.

A €1 million ERDF Ireland-Wales Programme (INTERREG IV)-funded research project investigated whether placing hydropower turbines within the water system could save the water industry, and water customers, money. The research looked at the current efficiency of water supply system, the best technology and how much it might cost, the environmental benefits, and which groups need to collaborate to enable the water industry to reap the greatest benefits from installing micro-hydropower into their systems.

The results proved positive, showing in Wales, for example that Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water could ultimately save a further £1 million every year by generating around 10 million kilowatts of electricity using micro-hydropower. That is enough electricity to power at least 2,000 homes in Wales, simply by harnessing water already flowing around the system. Similar potential savings were found for water companies in Ireland. This would not only save money, but would also prevent around 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas from being released into the atmosphere by the generation of electricity.

However, the project partners also appreciated the difficulties faced in delivering these benefits in the current climate. Current hydropower technology cannot yet offer the low cost compact technology needed to realise all this potential.

Mike Pedley, Head of Energy from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water welcomed the project findings saying; “At Welsh Water we already make considerable use of hydro but this project has helped bring into focus where more could be done with the right technological developments. Equipment such as pressure reducing valves are common in all water companies’ networks but none has yet to offer a viable hydro solution for the majority of these sites.”

The project partners now hope to take the initial findings further with the development and demonstration of new low-cost turbine technology. They are currently exploring regional and European funding to make Wales and Ireland world leaders in providing energy efficient water services to consumers. With the help of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water this can be made a reality in the years ahead.

“The Hydro-BPT project has been insightful to say the least”, said by Dr Prysor Williams, the project lead and Co-Investigator at Bangor University’s School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography. He added: “we hope to continue working with Trinity College Dublin, the water industry and other relevant stakeholders from across the EU in further projects that build on this work. There’s no doubt that the water industry is demonstrating an awareness of energy efficiency, and the work of the Hydro-BPT team can help them achieve a more sustainable future”.

• The UK water industry is the 4th most energy intensive industry sector in the economy.
• £7 billion- the cost of providing this service to 23 million UK businesses and homes annually.
• 7.7 billion kilowatts of electricity is consumed by the water industry annually, which accounts for 4 million tonnes in CO2 emissions
• The industry’s energy cost in the UK has risen 159% since 2004

More testing for PATs underway in Trinity College’s Hydraulics Lab

A few pictures of our latest test rig in the lab as part of Tracey’s work on testing the efficiency of PATs. Testing starts this week, and when all is up and running expect a short video of the kit in action.

National Trust Wales & Hydro-BPT - common ground for LCA

We have undertaken some life cycle assessment (LCA) work for the National Trust on some of their hydro projects, Hafod y Porth (at Craflywn in Snowdonia), one of which has just been switched on in the last few weeks and is well on its way to meeting the carbon neutral mark in less than a year (i.e. it will generate enough electricity to cancel out all the energy put into producing the materials and constructing the project). Impressive, isn't it!

New PhD Student Tracey Lydon joins Hydro-BPT team in Trinity College Dublin

A new Ph.D. student has joined the Trinity College Dublin Hydro-BPT project team. Tracey Lydon has joined the Trinity project team to work on the design and development micro-hydropower turbines suitable for a variety of contexts to recover energy form water distribution networks. She has worked previously for an environmental consultancy firm in South Africa; on the design of water infrastructure and the development of water reconciliation strategies, and as a water and sanitation manager for a number of hospitals in Haïti.  She hopes that her variety of work experience may add practical and useful contributions to the team and the advancement of the project. Her role will involve the application of open innovation and platform thinking in order to facilitate the involvement of asset owners, operators, engineering specialist, and suppliers of equipment, policymakers and researchers in the development of the MHP turbines.  Solutions suitable for both the western world and a developing context will be investigated.

Project Autumn newsletter: new Hydro-BPT team members, lab experiments, publications and looking to the future.

So it has been a busy six months for the team since March. We have put together a newsletter updating stakeholders on what we have been up to, what has changed and some comments on what we have planned between now and the end of th project next June. If you are in Bangor University, download the Autumn newsletter here.

Sept '12 - Appointment of new Research Officer to Hydro-BPT project in Bangor

A Research Project Support Officer has been appointed to the Bangor University Hydro-BPT project team. John Gallagher has joined the Bangor project team to investigate the environmental impacts of micro-hydro turbine installations. He has joined the team after submitting his PhD in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and has worked with members of the TCD team prior to his appointment. He hopes his engineering expertise will complement the environmental team in Bangor as they carry out the GIS mapping of the identified potential and a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the environmental impacts of micro-hydro installations. His role will include liaising with water suppliers, local authorities, electrical suppliers, energy regulators and turbine suppliers/ manufacturers to gather the data required to carry out the environmental assessment for the project. He hopes his work will aid in providing a clearer picture of the potential for energy recovery and a more sustainable water industry.

So how green are our hydropower projects?

The Hydro-BPT team in Bangor have set out to answer the question in hand. The team took three case hydropower (HP) studies and undertook a life cycle assessment of each project to determine the environmental impacts of the steel, concrete and many other materials and processes associated with a HP project. The answer is good, with results showing that each project had a carbon payback of between 0.16 to 0.31 years. The electricity that they generate can offset the energy that goes into building them in just a few months. A paper has just been published by the Journal of Cleaner Environment called Life cycle environmental balance and greenhouBreakdown of environmental impacts of MHP case studies exprese gas mitigation potential of micro-hydropower energy recovery in the water industry” and can be access on the journal website or contact us here at Hydro-BPT. (Link). This demonstrates how green these projects are, but the Hydro-BPT team aims to continue this work with further studies to see if the raw materials used can go that little bit further and HP can get greener.

Talking climate change, water resources and hydropower

John attended the IWRA World Water Congress Conference from the 25th to 29th of May in Edinburgh. He was there to give his talk on the project work relating to climate change and impacts of water resources and hydropower. The conference brought together water research experts from all walks of life: industry, research and governance. It was a great conference for cross-disciplinary networking. The presentation was titled "From treatment to tap: the future for micro-hydropower installations in water infrastructure" and focused on the uncertainty of the future of hydropower in water infrastructure due to climate change.

The BHA Summer Forum & Exhibition – An opportunity to promote ecodesign

The British Hydropower Association Summer Forum & Exhibition brings together a who’s who of the leaders in the hydropower industry for the UK and further afield. John was invited to make a presentation at the conference in relation the life cycle assessment work undertaken by the Bangor team. His presentation was titled "Promoting eco-design in hydropower projects: being greener than green" and his message was quite clear, hydropower is green, but can it be greener. John discussed the potential for reducing the quantity of materials used and the potential for alternative, greener materials in some cases. He also discussed an importance to focus on both carbon and resource savings, as materials selection impacts these environmental burdens in very distinct ways. The work done by the Hydro-BPT team highlights the opportunities to make environmental, economic and time savings through ecodesign. In other words, by taking an ecodesign approach and making resource and carbon savings, you can also save time and money through faster and greener hydropower projects.

The future of hydropower in Europe can be greener

The latest paper by the Bangor team is looking at the big picture of hydropower and Europe. Taking 3 case studies of typical hydropower projects in the UK (with thanks to National Trust Wales and Ellergreen Hydro for the data) we examined the environmental burdens of constructing these projects. Furthermore, we then considered how green these projects are, and how we can make them greener. Our work has just been published in Environmental Science & Technology (Url.). In the context of the future of hydropower, a publication in 2014 estimated 28,000 sites yet to be implemented in Europe. Our work made a conservative extrapolation of our results and found that taking ecodesign considerations could avoid using 800 000 tonnes of concrete, 10 000 tonnes of steel, and 65 million vehicle miles. Not to forget the potential to generate 7.35 TWh and offset over 2.96 Mt of CO2 from grid electricity per annum. Big potential, but can we achieve it?

Tracey Lydon wins ESAI 'Communicating Environmental Science' competition for Hydro-BPT project video

Congratulations to one our PhD students, Tracey Lydon on winning the 'Communicating Environmental Science' YouTube competition run by the Environmental Science Association of Ireland (www.esaiweb.org/). Her video entitled 'Micro Hydro Energy Recovery' discusses the innovation in her research and the potential for micro-hydropower to generate clean energy across the globe. Her winning video can be found on YouTube simply click on the link here.

What's a PAT? Tracey explains at ICWEEM 2015

Tracey presented her work at the ICWEEM 2015 conference in Spain last month... On the 26th and 27th of March, the 17th International Conference on Water, Energy and Environmental Management took place in Madrid and was hosted by the (WASET). Her presentation entitled ‘Pump-as-Turbine: Testing and Characterization as an Energy Recovery Device, for Use within the Water Distribution Network’ discussed her experimental work on, hosted by thein Madrid on the 26 - 27 March 2015.

When in Rome... Hydro-BPT wins best paper at conference

After presenting at the First Journal Conference on Clean Energy Technologies on the 20th of March in Florence, Christine recieved a certificate for the best paper at the 2015 conference. Her paper was called "A parametric experimental investigation of the operating conditions of gravitational vortex hydropower (GVHP)".