Pumped water distribution systems are critical infrastructure, and their operation is often energy intensive leading to high operating costs. Many water authorities are therefore investing in solar panels, batteries and other renewable energy sources to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. There is an increased realisation that the availability of storages for water and energy leads to increased flexibility in operations since pumping can be shifted to time periods where energy is cheap, and batteries allows for stored energy to be used when tariffs or prices on the electricity market are high. In this projects the use of Ecomonomic MPC to operate the pumps and batteries will be investigated. In addition to economic cost, other considerations such as service to water users will also be included. This requires the inclusion of multiple objectives within a MPC framework, which will be addressed in this PhD. The operation of water distribution systems is also subject to uncertainty in electricity pricing and water demand, which is often represented using ensemble forecasts. Importantly it is recognised that the source of the water is a river. Therefore, the effect of the pumping on the river environment and other water users upstream and downstream of the pumping station will also be considered in the multi objective optimisation.
Project details and applications procedure are available at https://onebasin.com.au/phd-programs
PhD Project ID : 1BPhD-08. Application deadline 3 Jan 2023
