Unlocking Hidden Energy: Assessing Micro and Pico Solutions for Sustainable Power Generation in Water Infrastructure

The requirement and push for decarbonising the global energy system are becoming increasingly critical. One area that has entered this conversation is the use of Micro and Pico scale energy solutions like flow-induced energy harvesters to utilise the untapped energy potential within pre-existing infrastructure, like the European water infrastructure where the unutilised energy potential is estimated at 10 TWh/y [1].  Understanding and assessing the overall application feasibility of these types of technologies is vital to the successful deployment and development of these Micro and Pico energy generation solutions. This assessment needs to include a feasibility assessment that integrates technical and economic feasibility alongside society acceptance, energy security, and environmental impacts of the devices in relation to the integration of current water and energy system infrastructure. Notably, a limited number of assessment tools carry out a comprehensive feasibility assessment of these technologies regarding their deployment as secondary energy generation technologies and integration of current water or energy systems.  

This research applies a comprehensive feasibility assessment tool which is being designed as part of the H-Hope Horizon Project (https://h-hope.eu) to assess the feasibility of one prototype design of H-Hope vortex-induced vibration energy harvesters (VIV-EH) in urban settings.

The results demonstrate that the current prototype design of the VIV-EH has a power output comparable to the energy generation output of other hydropower energy harvester (H-EH) devices. In that regard the prototype illustrates a positive technical feasibility regarding power generation. The assessment has defined factors such as device designs and manufacturing quality, as well as high water velocities and sediments in the water channels, as the most significant technical and operational risks of the VIV-EH. Furthermore, the current VIV-EH prototype cannot be considered economically feasible since LCOE is revealed to be up to 20 times higher in comparison with other H-EH prototypes and small-scale renewable energy technologies. On the other hand, the current design of the VIV-EH prototype presents a low ecological and environmental impact regarding material selection, manufacturing and installation in pre-existing water channels, and the assessment demonstrates that further optimisation to improve the efficiency of the VIV-EH prototype does further decrease the environmental impact per unit of energy produced by the device.

Overall, the results highlight that further development and optimisation of the VIV-EH will improve the device's ability to harness power potential in the system and enhance the device's resilience to mitigate the impact of the aforementioned risks. Therefore, it improves power output, reduces the LCOE and environmental effects of energy generation, and makes it more attractive for deployment and affordable as a secondary energy generation technology for off-grid and urban applications. This work showcases an assessment framework, which can potentially be applied to assess the feasibility of various types of micro or pico energy generation technologies as secondary energy sources to unlock unutilised energy sources in our modern infrastructure networks.

[1] Quaranta, E., Bódis, K., Kasiulis, E. et al. Is There a Residual and Hidden Potential for Small and Micro Hydropower in Europe? A Screening-Level Regional Assessment. Water Resour Manage 36, 1745–1762 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-022-03084-6