POWER July 2023 - 6

Integration of Hydropower and
Hydrogen Gains Momentum
In May, U.S. national laboratories Idaho
National Laboratory (INL) and the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
partnered with regulated utility Idaho
Power to determine the viability of integrating
hydrogen production with hydropower.
The labs noted the prospect
could launch a new critical role for Idaho
Power's 17 low-cost hydropower projects,
which generate the bulk of power
it supplies to a 24,000-square-mile area
in Idaho and Oregon. The project will
" evaluate the coupling of electrolytic
hydrogen production technologies with
hydropower plants to identify scenarios
that could help Idaho Power achieve its
goal of providing 100% clean energy by
2045, " noted Brett Dumas, Idaho Power's
director of environmental affairs.
The measure is notable because while
interest in hydrogen has risen markedly
over the past five years, efforts to integrate
hydrogen production with hydropower
have been largely muted in the U.S. Hydropower
generation represented about
6.2% of total U.S. utility-scale generation
in 2022. According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), about onehalf
of total U.S. utility-scale conventional
hydropower generation is concentrated in
Washington, California, and Oregon.
Hydropower has played a crucial role
in the region, given its capacity to provide
baseload power and flexibility. It includes
changing both real and reactive power
outputs to provide voltage support, inertial
response, primary frequency response,
and operating reserves. However, hydropower
and pumped storage hydro flexibility
can be constrained by site-specific
requirements for environmental
flows,
irrigation, navigation, recreation, flood
control, and other services that often take
priority over power production.
" By capturing the off-peak energy production
as hydrogen, the hydrogen can
be re-electrified during peak energy demand, "
said INL's Daniel Wendt, principal
investigator and researcher on the Idaho
Power project. Storing hydrogen as a fuel
could also help stabilize the grid and offer
a cleaner alternative to fossil-fuel backup
power generation, the lab noted.
However, as part of another notable
objective, the project will also evaluate
how excess oxygen produced as a
byproduct of hydrogen generation can
6
be utilized to address river water quality.
" Reservoirs behind dams may have
low levels of dissolved oxygen, particularly
during summer and early fall, " INL
explained. " Dissolved oxygen in a river
is necessary for fish and other aquatic
species. " Idaho Power is already seeing
positive results from adding oxygen to
the water flowing out of Brownlee Dam
in Hells Canyon, said Dumas.
According to Di Wu, a chief research
engineer and the technical lead at PNNL,
the labs will explore hydrogen's various
deployment scenarios via advanced
modeling and analytical methods. " To
effectively schedule hydrogen production,
advanced modeling and optimization
techniques are required to account for
both energy shifting opportunities and oxygen
needs subject to both system- and
component-level constraints, " he noted.
The research will add to a growing
portfolio of projects already underway
worldwide. European power generators,
notably, are leading the charge to develop
hydrogen integration into hydropower
plants, driven in part by incentives to
enable fuller utilization of existing hydropower
assets, as well as prospects to secure
a foothold as a key supplier within
emerging hydrogen markets.
In April, German energy company
RWE announced it would partner with
infrastructure firm Badenova to build a
hydrogen hub under the H2@Hydro initiative
on the Upper Rhine. RWE plans to
build an electrolysis plant with a capacity
of 50 MW at its RADAG Rhine hydroelectric
power station in Albbruck by the end
of 2026. The baseload run-of-river power
plant produces 660 GWh annually at the
border between Germany and Switzerland.
The electrolysis plant will use part
of that hydropower to produce up to
8,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually.
Meanwhile, the oxygen and process
heat produced as byproducts will be
used in " the district's planned health
park, in the new quarter on the site of
the former Albbruck paper mill (PFA) and
in the neighboring sewage treatment
plant, " RWE said. Badenova plans to
build a new 8.5-kilometer hydrogen pipeline
from Waldshut to Albbruck to reach
industrial and transport customers on
both sides of the Upper Rhine.
" This is a crucial initiative to keep the
local business location attractive for industry,
as the connection to the European
hydrogen long-distance network,
the so-called European Hydrogen Backbone,
is not planned until the final expansion
stage around 2040, " Badenova
noted. " The new route is to form the
backbone of the future hydrogen supply
along the High Rhine, and at the same
time enable the connection of BadenWürttemberg
to the European and national
hydrogen infrastructure. "
Earlier this year, Swiss power generator
Axpo outlined plans to build a hydrogen
production facility at the Reichenau
hydropower plant in Domat/Ems with
Swiss utility partner Rhiienergie. The
project, scheduled to go into operation
this fall, will produce about 350 tonnes
of hydrogen annually via a 2.5-MW hydrogen
production facility. Axpo is also
exploring a 15-MW hydrogen production
facility (producing 2,000 tonnes annually)
1. Southern Germany's largest plant for green hydrogen is being built at the GrenzachWyhlen.
The existing 1-MW power-to-gas plant completed in December 2019, which will be
expanded to 5 MW, is located beside EnBW's run-of-river hydroelectric power plant in Wyhlen.
Courtesy: Energiedienst
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