#MeetTheD-HYDROFLEXDemos_#4 Monitoring Water to Green H2 Hybridization

Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN – As part of the EU-funded D-HYDROFLEX project, the Touro´s HPP demo has his target in monitoring the mass water behavior to long term and check its suitability to produce green h2 trough a hybridized HPP – H2 plant.

Demo Case at a Glance

Locations: Vila de Cruces & Touro, Galicia (Spain)

Lead Partners: Tasga Renovables, ITG Centro Tecnológico Nacional, Fundación CARTIF

Demo Goals

• Monitoring the quality of Ulla River water along the time.
• To deepen our understanding of the river’s long-term behaviour and the effects that the hydroelectric power station has on the river system.
• To validate the water suitability to produce green H2 regarding key parameters as TDS, turbidity, temperature and ph.
• Environmental assessment of current HPP operation and future green H2 production.

Challenges Faced

To set up the environmental indicators program, that involves selecting the optimal tools, parameters, sensor locations, sensor defenses against flooding, frequency of sampling, and the management of data protocols.

The demo tackled key barriers such as:

• Fixing probes to dam and restitution channel allowing it to move along the water column.
• Protect the probes against flooding episodes without impeding easy access for maintenance

Innovative Solutions Delivered

To overcome these, the team:

• To design tubular aluminium protectors with perforations at the data collection points, fixed to dam and restitution channel.
• Provide auxiliary cables to move the probe along the protector.
• Provide a multiple pulley system to facilitate the lifting of the probe upstream along 25 m of water column, supported by the auxiliary cables.

Impact & Future Outlook

Early results show that HPP activity has no effect on quality waters besides the local effects associated with the head of the reservoir and linked to the intakes flow effect, that due the turbinate causes a stream from the intakes upstream that hinders mixing between the water passing through the turbine and the water stored above it.

Regarding the key parameters to produce green H2, the results show:

• TSS values remain stable between 50 and 70 mg/l, with lower values associated with spring and summer, clearly below the limit to be useful to produce green H2 (500 mg/l).
• PH is very stable throughout the year, ranging between 6.9 and 7.7. Its peaks (above 8) occur between May and July, in coincidence with the period of greatest biological activity (microalgae and blue-green algae) in the reservoir waters. It means that it will be necessary to treat the incoming water occasionally to reduce the pH value below 8 ph units.
•  Temperature values range between 14 and 24 ºC, following the seasonal pattern, always below the limit to produce green H2, fixed in 25ºC.
•  Turbidity episodes occur in rainy season, with average values around 30 NTU and peaks exceeding 100 NTU frequently. It means that in a normal situation the intake water must be treated to produce green H2.
  

Regarding Regarding other parameters, deserves to be highlighted that BGAs are present in the water body throughout the year, due the agriculture diffuse pollution in the basin.

By the other hand, oxygen concentration values range between 6 and 9 mg/l and its levels are influenced by the rainy season, when it reaches its maximum and the biological activity starting in April, when the downward trend that began at the end of winter is broken, with a wide range between the maximum and minimum values is observed every day.

About future green H2 production, data show that it is highly unlikely that problems will occur under normal operating conditions, due water involves in H2 production plant is a tiny quantity of the Ulla flow (0,0001 %), and wastewater is even less (0,0006%). As if that were not eloquent enough, the wastewater characteristics will be similar to those of the river.

Voices from the Demo

“The demonstration provided a better understanding of how green hydrogen production can be integrated into existing hydroelectric infrastructure, both in terms of production decisions (electricity or green H₂) based on market conditions and demonstrating the feasibility of the proposal based on an accurate assessment of its environmental impacts, which have been shown not to increase those associated with the existing facility”, said Manuel Tourón (Environmental Manager at Tasga Renovables).

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