Pressure Management and Electric Power Production Using Pumps as Turbines

Pressure‐reducing valves (PRVs) are widely used in a water distribution systems (WDSs) to reduce pressure. Replacing PRVs with pumps as turbines (PATs) allows for pressure control as well as electricity generation. In the first step of this study, optimal setting and placement of PRVs was determined to reduce leakage by using a genetic algorithm in a WDS in Tabriz province, Iran. In the second step, some of the selected PRVs were replaced with PATs. Thereafter, the amount of power that would be generated by PATs was calculated. Eventually the system was evaluated in order to validate the proposed model. The computational results show loss reduction and production of a remarkable amount of electric power in the studied system.