Investigating On-Site Energy Consumption Patterns Using Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and Geographic Information System (GIS) Techniques

Abstract

In recent decades, the fortunes of energy economies have been closely linked in Pakistan. A major energy inefficiency issue was found in Pakistan due to the mismatch between horsepower (HP) requirements and bore depth. Keeping this in view, a total of 194 tubewells were chosen for an energy audit in the Multan region, Pakistan. The Terrameter SAS 4000 was used to measure the accurate demand of the head during the resistivity surveys at all of the selected locations. The results showed that the tubewell sets were installed arbitrarily at high power, irrespective of the provided flow and head, and these pumps used more energy for their flow. The results revealed that the efficiency of the tubewell sets increased from 35 to 54%, from 55 to 80%, from 49 to 80%, and from 48 to 75% for centrifugal pumps with electric motors and diesel engines and for turbines with electric motors and diesel engines, respectively. A weighted overlay analysis indicated that the efficiency of tubewells covering 838.12, 1131.8, and 2077.1 km2 for centrifugal pumps with electric motors, diesel engines, and turbines, respectively, was enhanced for the study area. Similarly, the energy saved for the study area covered 1423.8, 1161.1, and 1131.1 km2, as shown by the overlay analysis. The results revealed that the annual energy saving was found of 3486 kw for 194 tubewells, resulted in the saving of USD 0.204 million in operational costs over one year. The overall results indicate the strong need to adopt proper investigations of the head and power requirements before installing a system in the study area.