Impact of the energy transition on water utilities

Methods, tools and products

The impact of the energy transition depends transition viewer, which is available to the staff of drinking water utilities upon request. Among other things, the transition viewer provides a picture of the heating programmes (formerly ‘heating transition visions’) of the municipalities and locations where geothermal drilling operations can be expected. With this viewer an initial assessment can be made of which specific changes can be expected in the vicinity of a particular location, and how these are spatially connected with the possible presence of areas of water abstraction and groundwater protection.

An overloaded electrical grid

The transition from fossil sources to the use of green energy, in combination with insufficient transport capacity, results in an overloaded electrical grid. This is known as ‘grid congestion’. As a consequence, it becomes more difficult to obtain new connections to the electrical grid. The energy market is changing and energy contracts are becoming more dynamic, which confronts drinking water utilities with the question as to how they can manage the drinking water provision more flexibly in the context of a fully sustainable energy provision. Grid congestion also plays a role in the feed-back to the grid of self-generated power from solar panels and windmills on the drinking water utility sites.

The energy transition impacts the quality of drinking water assets and drinking water 

The energy transition leads to changes in the physical environment, such as sources of geothermal and aquathermal energy, and heating networks to heat buildings. To ensure that sustainable heat and cold are available at the right moment for use in buildings, seasonal storage is needed, as in the case for instance of geothermal energy systems. KWR researches how such energy and water systems can coexist in the limited subsurface space.

Effects on drinking water demand

The energy transition influences the demand for water in various ways. To begin with, the price of energy has a strong impact on the drinking water use in homes, since roughly half of the drinking water in homes is heated, particularly for showering purposes. The energy transition moreover needs new energy carriers, such as hydrogen. The production of hydrogen requires pure water. Hydrogen production is necessary most of all when there is a surplus of sustainable electricity. This can lead locally to increased water demand, precisely during the summer period when there is lots of sunshine. Lastly, the optimisation of local energy systems can have an impact on drinking water demand. Since local optimisation of energy systems has been rendered legally easier by the new Energy Act, this law can stimulate the optimisation. At KWR, we follow these developments closely and we study their impact on drinking water demand.

Sustainability reports

The energy transition is part of a broader transition towards climate neutrality. The regulations with regard to sustainability reporting have been extended over the last years. In response, the drinking water utilities work with KWR on shared standards for the sustainability reports, such as the ‘Drinking Water Operational Code (PCD) nr. 11 ‘CO2 footprint calculation for drinking water utilities’. A new development in this context is the European ‘Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)’, which led KWR to develop methods for the measurement of climate neutrality and its integrated assessment. See also.  ‘Raw Materials Reuse in Circular Systems’’.

Projects

FlexInWater

In the FlexInWater-project KWR researches what the energy transition means for drinking water utilities, and the extent to which the utilities can respond to this new market with their production facilities.

Reliable backfilling of boreholes in closed thermal energy systems

This research project evaluated the techniques (methods and materials) used in the Netherlands to restore the sealing integrity of the penetrated subsurface layers after the installation of closed thermal energy systems. It explored possible ways of improving the backfilling of boreholes and making regulations more workable, determining the quality of backfilling in situ, and strengthening the quality assurance system.

Guidelines for the coexistence of subsurface water storage and open thermal energy systems

In greenhouse horticultural areas, the subsurface aquifers are used for both the abstraction and storage of water for irrigation purposes, as well as for the storage of heat and cold for the heating and cooling of the greenhouses. This project investigated the conditions under which heat and water storage can coexist in an aquifer. The aim of the work presented in this rapport is to quantify the interaction between subsurface water storage and open thermal energy systems and, on this basis, to develop general guidelines for the spatial organisation of the subsurface.

ENGINE: Energy and drinking water in balance
In order to determine the desirable minimal distances between heat sources and drinking water pipes, there must be clarity about what the influence of those sources is on the soil temperature under conditions of all sorts. To this end, the ENGINE-project project developed a model and validated it with practical measurements. KWR used this model to develop knowledge-based rules which provided the basis for agreements reached on the distances separating heating networks and drinking water networks.