Abstract The Mura River has good hydrological conditions and natural resources for energy exploitation. Austria has a long tradition of exploiting the energy potential of the Mura River, which is predominantly utilized up to the Slovenian border. However, there is only one (small) hydroelectric power plant operational on the Mura in Slovenia, i. e. Ceršak, which is in urgent need of renovation due to wear. This master s thesis is focused on the optimization of the existing energy site Ceršak with the objective of identifying the technically and economically most appropriate design solution. Presently, the Ceršak SHPP does not fully exploit the available energy potential; additionally, the produced preliminary designs do not allow for appropriate technical solutions for optimum utilization of water resources. The thesis provides an overview of hydropower plants on the Mura River and the possible location of energy exploitation of the Mura in section between Ceršak and Sladki Vrh. Attention was given to the design scheme of the discharge channel with the possibility of using canal lining. To this end we outlined an overview of the guidelines for the design of a hydroelectric canal. We developed a hydraulic model using HEC-RAS software with which we examined the influence of conceptual solutions on hydraulic conditions of water flow in the tailrace canal. Rating curves used in the energy calculations were determined based on the results of hydraulic calculations. The most relevant conceptual technical solution was determined based on the energy- and economic optimization method.
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