Scottish Water Horizons
Delivering innovation in the Hydro Nation
Fraser Purves
Commercial Manager
Who are Scottish Water Horizons
An overview…
• Owned by Scottish Water
• Self funded
• Leveraging value of Scottish Water assets
• Identifying commercial opportunities
• Contributing to Scottish Water’s renewable objectives
• Supporting Scotland’s growth agenda
What we do…
The energy challenges
The scale of the challenge currently being
faced by SW:
• Largest energy consumer within Scotland
• £40m per annum energy bill
• Reducing SW’s carbon footprint
The Scottish Water Vision…
Horizons hydro programme
• The hydro potential
• SWH hydro investment into the asset
• SWH hydro programme
• A crucial part of the SWH programme is the Difgen… a new turbine technology
What is a Difgen?
An alternative turbine technology
• A water turbine that combines:
Pressure reduction + flow control Power generation by harvesting the
energy from the resulting pressure drop
• Installed within potable water distribution networks
• The Difgen concept was developed by Zeropex
The Difgen turbine… what it looks like
Hydro power from fluid pressure
The heart of the Difgen… the techy bit
• A positive displacement rotary lobe pump running in reverse to act as a turbine
• How does it work?
Differential pressure created by the braking force load applied from the grid
Retards the rotational speed
Allows either flow or pressure control
Denny Difgen… a first in Scotland
The facts
• In line between Carron Valley WTW to Quarter BPT
• 2 No. Duty models installed with an output of 100kW
• Energy produced; 600 MWh per annum… enough to power 150 homes
• Investment at £800k
• Return on investment Annual income estimated at £147k Anticipated payback of 6 years
Denny Difgen… a first in Scotland
What are the benefits?
• The asset base can be fully exploited for renewable energy
• The scale of the Difgen opportunity... 3,500 PRVs in SW asset base
• Pan Scotland Difgen programme kicked off with first 20 sites… estimated to produce 15,000MWh… enough to power 4,000 houses
• Benefits to SW and our customers
Closing thoughts… a positive contribution to generating green energy
Finally, I want to leave you with these key messages:
• The Difgen technology supports SW vision of becoming a low carbon water company
• The Difgen is an enabler for: Smart leakage management Reducing carbon footprint Ultimately reducing the electricity bill
Thank you
