Award-winning pump system carbon reduction

Boulting Group and Thames Water won the award for their major efficiency upgrade of the 90-year-old Littleton Raw Water Pumping Station (RWPS). The project involved the connection of a 1.5MWp ground-mounted photovoltaic system, which converts the sun’s radiation into useable electricity. This electricity is then used to power the pumping station, with any surplus being sold to the national grid.

The pumping system upgrade has reduced like-for-like energy consumption by approximately 25%. The electrical load of the pumping station can be varied through Boulting’s Pump System Optimisation software, which controls the use of newly installed variable speed drives to match the generation curve of the photovoltaic system. This means that the pumps can be controlled to maximise the use of the system and, if additional energy is required to meet pumping capacity, it can be drawn from the grid.

“Winning this award is testament to Boulting Group and Thames Water’s ability to collaborate and create a solution that is unlike any other,” explained Brian Conway, Director of Pump Management at Boulting Group. “We would never have created a system that was so efficient without input from both companies. The results that are achieved when we combine our expertise will remain the driving force behind our long-term collaboration within the water industry.

“The Littleton RWPS project took just two years to complete. In that time, we brought a 20^th century system up-to-date and reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption by a significant amount. Boulting Group continues to strengthen its relationship with the UK water industry by continuing to work on innovative projects with some of the sector's leading companies.”

Since the upgrade, Littleton RWPS uses approximately 48% less carbon than a like-for-like pumping station supplied only from the national grid. For this station in particular, it equates to an annual reduction of 1.59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The reduction in energy from national grid supply is approximately 48%, equivalent to 3.52GWh per annum.