Utilization of Excess Water Accumulation for Green Hydrogen Production in a Run-ofTiver Hydropower Plant

This paper discusses the potential for green-hydrogen production in a run-of-river 9 hydropower plant. This particular hydropower plant has no significant water accumulation, but 10 there is the potential for limited hydrogen production due to a mismatch between the daily 11 predefined electricity production (known as the timetable) and the actual water inflows. The 12 timetable for the hydropower plant is prepared by the operator of the electro-energetic system 13 based on a model of the available production capacities, forecasted consumption, water 14 accumulation, state of the river flows, weather forecasts and the system operator’s strategy. The 15 uncertainty in the model’s input parameters is reflected in the output timetable for the 16 hydropower plant and, for this reason, a small reserve of water for potential exploitation is 17 envisaged. By using real data for the timetable and the water inflow, we estimate the excess 18 hydropower that can be used for hydrogen cogeneration. Since the primary task of the 19 hydropower plant is to produce electricity according to the timetable, the production of 20 hydrogen is only possible to a limited extent. Therefore, we present a control algorithm that 21 regulates the amount of hydrogen production, while considering the predefined timetable and 22 the real water accumulation. The second part of the paper deals with the economic viability of 23 hydrogen cogeneration in the case-study run-of-river hydropower plant and discusses the 24 possibility of using it for local public transport.