AQUADVANCED Water Supply ups Bristol Water energy savings and operational efficiency

Serving Bristol and surrounding areas in the UK’s southwest, Bristol Water (part of the Pennon Group PLC water utility company) is tasked to provide essential public water services to around 1.2 million customers.

In recent years, Bristol Water increased its resilience and interconnectivity between sources and supply areas. It is complex to fully optimise the operation due to the broad impact and ever-changing needs; trying to reduce cost whilst maintaining resilient supply under pressures such as drought.

Wanting to boost their operational efficiency, Bristol Water had several goals in mind. This included reducing energy consumption and costs, streamlining water routes for efficiency and cost-savings, improving asset efficiency, and overall consistent network optimisation.  

To address these challenges, Bristol Water approached SUEZ to implement AQUADVANCED® Water Supply solutions across its entire water distribution network. AQUADVANCED® Water Supply by SUEZ is a real-time water management and optimisation system that works alongside water utilities' SCADA and telemetry systems. It helps water utilities save energy by:

• Forecasting water demand in different zones and scheduling delivery at the lowest cost.
• Pumping water to storage tanks during low-cost energy periods and releasing it during highcost periods.
• Using the most efficient way to move water around the network.
• Selecting the most efficient pumps and pump combinations based on flow rates.
• Avoiding tariff peaks through Demand Charge Management.
  
  

Among its biggest benefits, AQUADVANCED® Water Supply significantly enhances operations, while also reducing energy costs and minimising environmental impact. Since the technology automates many of the tasks that the controls team would otherwise have to do manually, it allows the team to focus on more strategic tasks, including planning and improving the water supply system's reliability.

Unlike point-to-point optimisers, which address issues or enhancements in isolation, AQUADVANCED® Water Supply assesses operational efficiencies across the entire network, considers interactions between remote assets, and gives an integrated approach to network optimisation.

Having the power to analyse a full year’s worth of energy demand data allowed AQUADVANCED® Water Supply to tailor energy packages that perfectly match Bristol Water’s specific needs. One of these needs was to simplify water transport from all its sources effectively and economically. AQUADVANCED® Water Supply helped make Bristol Water’s vision a reality.

This data-driven approach has produced remarkable results. Bristol Water saw an 8% reduction in energy consumption, the lowest for Bristol Water in 20 years.

One of the advantages of using AQUADVANCED® Water Supply is its efficient way of managing the water network, which is crucial for maintaining a consistent water supply, especially during periods of high demand. It played a significant role in Bristol Water’s supply strategy, particularly during drought conditions. For instance, it helped Bristol Water intelligently limit drought sensitive sources and move water across the network from sources with more available water. Thanks to this strategic approach, Bristol Water has been able to maintain normal operations and ensured a reliable water supply for its customers.