Pressure reduction by means of hydraulic valves: an opportunity to recover hydraulic energy to reduce operating costs and carbon footprint

Sometimes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. In the image below, you can see an industrial water supply system with two pressure reducing valves installed in series.

Our engineers have recently visited the site and assessed that the dissipated pressure can instead be transformed into electricity with one of our turbines. This will reduce the energy demand and the customer’s carbon emissions, while ensuring the same pressure reduction effect currently achieved by the valves alone.

If you have a site with potential for energy recovery, do not hesitate to contact us. We will develop a suitable pre-feasibility assessment for you to evaluate the hydropower potential.

Industrial pressure reduction and filtering station

Easy Hydro assesses the potential of using the environmental flow of a dam for hydropower generation

The Easy Hydro team visited a hydropower plant to assess the potential for hydropower generation using the environmental flow with a cost-effective turbine to be installed in parallel to the existing groups. The existing potential is currently being dissipated by a reservoir discharge control valve.

DN2000 Inlet pipes of the main generation groups of the hydropower plant

Easy Hydro visits the Greek demo sites where the solutions for the iAMP-Hydro project will be validated

The Easy Hydro team together with some other partners of the iAMP-Hydro project visited various PPC hydropower plants where the digital solutions developed in the project will be validated. The visit was very fruitful in order to confirm the details of the existing SCADA and the plant’s operating strategy.

In the coming weeks, the lab work will commence in order to develop and test the advanced conditions monitoring system and the predictive maintenance algorithms.

A special thanks to the PPC Renewables team for being such great hosts and for their hospitality! Stay tuned for further interesting updates in the coming weeks.

Panoramic view of one of the reservoirs visited
Three of the Kaplan turbines where the iAMP sensors will be installed

Easy Hydro develops an erosion-resistant hydro turbine for demanding mining applications

Easy Hydro on behalf of a large mining company has investigated the possibility of generating hydro power from the wastewater of a mineral processing plant which flows by gravity into a clarifier. The fluid is heavily loaded with fine quartz particles which have the potential to quickly erode mild metal components.

The water flow laden with fine quartz sand where an Easy Hydro energy recovery turbine will be installed

In order to guarantee a satisfactory life span for the equipment, Easy Hydro has specifically designed an energy recovery turbine capable of withstanding these harsh operating conditions due to a combination of a slow-moving impeller and an erosion-resistant polymer coating.

Hydro energy recovery from a treated landfill leachate

The Easy Hydro team visited an active landfill in southern Europe. Due to its location on a mountain top and in order not to contaminate the nearby aquifers, the site must continuously capture and treat the leachate. Produced by the organic waste decomposition process as well as the rainwater, which falls within the perimeter of the landfill.

To accomplish this, a treatment plant has recently been built to perform an onsite preliminary water treatment. The partially treated water then flows by gravity to a nearby urban wastewater treatment plant via a 6 km pipeline.

A view from the top of the landfill
The existing leachate pumping station, which can be entirely fed by the Easy Hydro turbine

Easy Hydro is collaborating with the landfill operator to assess the feasibility of installing multiple turbines along the outfall pipeline which could help the site reduce the amount of electricity currently being imported from the grid.

Survey of the hydro potential of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)

A few weeks ago, a delegation from Easy Hydro visited a large Spanish city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The purpose of the visit was to identify the locations around the site where it is possible to generate hydroelectricity utilizing it’s small water falls.

One of the investigated small water falls
An overall view of the WWTP

Several locations were found to be suitable for hydro energy recovery, with flow rates varying from 0.5 to 2.5 m3/s. In the coming months, Easy Hydro will assist the end customer with the design and selection of a suitable turbine type according to the site characteristics.

Revamping an old hydro in the era of climate change

Located in dry Southern Spain, this hydropower scheme was built in the 1960s and features a 650 kW Francis turbine. Even if the design capacity was adequate to the amount of water flow available at the time, the effects of climate change have caused a drastic reduction in water availability. As a result of this, the turbine has only been operated sporadically over the last decade since on most days there wasn’t a sufficient water flow to start the unit.

View of the Easy Hydro turbine (left) being lowered by crane into the turbine hall
The installed turbine and relative valves

After diagnosing the situation and assessing the historical flow records, the Easy Hydro team recommended adding a low-cost Pump As Turbine (PAT) in parallel to the existing 650 kW unit. The new equipment was recently installed and will soon be commissioned, thus providing a stable 90-100 kW power generation and utilizing the water that otherwise bypasses the main turbine.

A New 50 kW hydro turbine for a Spanish water utility

A water utility in Northern Spain is set to reduce its electricity bill thanks to an Easy Hydro energy recovery solution.  A 50 kW turbine now sits at the inlet of a treatment plant, supplied by a gravity-fed water source.

For this project, Easy Hydro provided the design expertise and the equipment (turbine, valves, electrical and control panels) required to complete the project.

50 kW Easy Hydro turbine

#easyhydro #watersector #hydropower #innovation #energyrecovery #savings #energyefficiency

Easy Hydro helps an Irish estate to audit an existing hydro and bring it back online

Alongside its industrial energy recovery projects, Easy Hydro also provides services to “traditional” hydro sites.

This estate in Ireland had a small hydro system which had fallen into dis-use. The Easy Hydro team conducted a full audit and tested each part of the system (intake, storage pond, penstock, turbine house) which allowed our engineers to identify the key steps needed to bring the site back into full operation.

With the first of those steps already completed, the site is well on its way back to generating almost 20 kW of green energy from the water flowing through it!

#easyhydro #hydropower #sustainability #energyrecovery #energyefficiency #pumpsasturbines #

Easy Hydro is delighted to announce the successful commissioning of two turbines in an active underground mine

The two turbines are installed in parallel and are located 50 m below the ground level on the discharge line from the mine water treatment plant. After passing through the turbines, the water is then released into a nearby watercourse.

The energy recovery system was designed and installed as an integral part of the water management infrastructure of the mine, with the aim of minimizing the environmental impact of the mineral extraction operations. Since last November, Easy Hydro’s innovative low-cost hydro solution is helping our customer to self-generate over 20% of the energy needed to run its water treatment plant!

#easyhydro #mining #pumpsasturbines #innovation #energyefficiency #lowcost #selfgenerate #energyrecovery