Optimization of Water Supply Systems to Reduce the Cost of Electric Energy: A Case Study

This work presents a study and optimization of a complete water supply system in order to obtain the lowest cost taking into account the alternative and available pumping elements. In this context, the main objective is to determine, through an optimization process, the operation time required for each configuration that provides the lowest cost for the supply. For this work, the nonlinear programming method based on the SQP (sequential quadratic programming) method is used to determine the minimum function of the resulting linear, multivariable, uni-objective optimization problem with constraints. After the optimization process of the operation times, it is verified that the applied methodology represents a 20% reduction in the costs with electric energy when compared to the configuration currently used, besides increasing the useful life of the equipment and enabling the displacement of the load curve for periods outside the peak hours of the utility.