Every day, wastewater treatment plants need energy to keep their systems running safely and consistently. Energy is directly related to operations, from pumping and aeration to treatment processes and monitoring systems. As utility costs keep going up, a lot of wastewater facility managers and city officials are being asked the same thing: how can we lower energy costs without affecting important services? For many facilities, energy costs represent 25–40% of total operating budgets, making even modest efficiency improvements significant to the bottom line.
The problem is that most facilities don’t know exactly where their energy is going. Over time, inefficiencies become part of everyday life, making it hard to figure out what’s causing costs to rise and what can realistically be done to fix them.
Understanding Where Energy Is Being Used In Your Wastewater Treatment Facility
To lower the cost of energy in a wastewater treatment plant, you first need to know how energy flows through your systems. Energy is often used in more than one way, such as in pumping stations, aeration systems, and treatment cycles. In many facilities, old equipment, out-of-date controls, and inefficient operating habits can all quietly make utilities more expensive without anyone noticing.
A common example of wastewater energy waste is pumps that operate in a simple on/off cycle rather than using variable frequency drives (VFDs) technology that allows motors to modulate their speed based on real-time demand. In older wastewater facilities, VFD retrofits are one of the highest-impact energy conservation measures available, often delivering substantial reductions in pump energy consumption. Additionally, older facilities that allow rainwater and runoff to enter the system through aging infrastructure, a condition known as inflow and infiltration (I&I), can significantly increase the volume of water being pumped and treated, driving up wastewater treatment plant energy costs without any operational benefit.
Identify Wastewater Plant Energy Cost Reduction Opportunities Without Interrupting Operations
A lot of wastewater facility managers think that cutting energy costs means making big changes to the system or stopping work. In reality, the best improvements often come from figuring out how to make existing systems work better.
Opportunities can include finding ways to make control strategies work better, making equipment respond better to demand, or finding places where energy is being wasted in the treatment process. There are also chances to capture and reuse energy that is already in the system at wastewater treatment plants. For instance, heat that is produced during treatment processes can sometimes be used for other tasks, which lowers the overall need for energy.
In some larger facilities, particularly those with anaerobic digestion processes, heat generated during treatment can sometimes be recovered and reused, reducing overall energy demand. Whether or not that opportunity exists, most facilities have meaningful efficiency gains available through control optimization and equipment modernization alone. These kinds of changes focus on using your current infrastructure instead of breaking it, which lets facilities keep performing as usual while becoming more efficient over time.
Why Most Wastewater Treatment Plants Have Trouble Lowering Energy Costs
The biggest problem for most wastewater treatment plants isn’t that there aren’t any potential solutions, it’s just that they have to be discovered first. It can be hard to figure out where energy is being lost or which changes will make the biggest difference when systems have been running the same way for years.
Without a clear picture of how things are going right now, facilities often guess or make small changes that don’t fix the real problem. This can cause you to spend money without seeing any real savings on your energy or utility bills.
See What Energy Cost Reductions Are Possible For Your Facility
Reducing energy costs in a wastewater treatment plant starts with understanding your facility’s current energy situation. Before making any changes, it’s important to figure out where energy is being used, where there are inefficiencies, and which opportunities can give you the most value without affecting operations. Quandel Energy Solutions offers Level 1 energy audits to give facilities a big picture view of how they are currently using energy, and what opportunities are available for improvement.
If you want to reduce the energy costs of your wastewater treatment facility, start with a Level 1 energy audit to understand where your facility can reduce costs. Contact Quandel today to get started towards lower costs and more sustainable operations.
