Safety requirements (compliance with safety regulation / risk control expectations)

This LAP is concerned with risk management and safety requirements for hydrogen injection and transport in the low pressure local DSO gas grid and the regulatory oversight to ensure safe operations

Glossary:

Safety regarding the handling and precautions to be taken when dealing with pure hydrogen and blend of H2 and NG when injected in the grid.
Is it a barrier?
Yes
Type of Barrier
Structural barriers, Operational barriers, Economic barriers, Regulatory gap
Assessment Severity
3

Questions:

Question 1 Which safety precautions are needed at your facilities when dealing with hydrogen and how is this related to legal and administrative procedures (e.g. ATEX, leakage detection, etc.)?
Depending on the intended capacity of the facility, the provisions of the Trade, Commercial and Industry Regulation Act or an eased environmental impact assessment have to be followed. It is very likely that (additional) leakage detection devices will be needed which are capable of measuring the leakage of natural gas and hydrogen. There are – at least partially – different requirements in place for hydrogen in gaseous form or in liquid form.
Question 2 Which additional safety requirements are needed for the injection of hydrogen compared to the injection of natural gas?
One can assume that there are no additional requirements regarding injection of hydrogen compared to the injection of natural gas except additional sensors which might be needed to detect hydrogen leakage. So far there are not sufficient empirical values available since the “topic” is relatively new. There might be a need for an extended education of the fire brigade and other relevant stakeholders.
Question 3 For which aspects is it needed to have good agreements about safety between the supplier and DSO?
There is no need for a “good agreement” but one has to follow the provisions of the eased environmental impact assessment or of the Trade, Commercial and Industry Regulation Act. If one follows the out of it resulting provisions one will be guided to the relevant laws and experts and required studies.
Question 4 Which is the competent authority or entity with regard to safety requirements?
In case of an eased environmental impact assessment it is the Government of the Austrian Bundesländer; the results of the assessment are notified to the applicant in a concerted/concentrated decision. This decision summarizes the assessments of the relevant experts. In case of a facility which has to be permitted in line with the Trade, Commercial and Industry Regulation Act, the county administration acts as an One Stop Shop; the county administration takes care of all other obligations in line with the relevant laws.

National legislation:

EU Legislation:

  • ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU - covering equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres
    The Directive defines the essential health and safety requirements and conformity assessment procedures (Article 4) to be applied before products are placed on the EU market and is significant for the engineering of hydrogen production plants. It covers inter alia equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

    The Directive requires employers to classify areas where hazardous explosive atmospheres may occur into zones. The classification given to a particular zone, and its size and location, depends on the likelihood of an explosive atmosphere occurring and its persistence if it does.

    The Directive requires the manufacturers to design their equipment to be suitable for use within their customer’s explosive atmosphere. Therefore, manufacturers of equipment rely upon their customer to give them information about the classification of the zone and the flammable substance(s) within that zone.

    The Directive describes the rules and regulations for all actors in the value chain, with respect to ensuring that only safe equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres are sold and applied. It provides regulation of how the equipment shall be constructed, produced and documented, as well as the rules for CE-labelling.

    It also contains, inter alia conformity assessment procedures (Art 13) EU declaration of conformity (Art 14) and General principles of the CE marking (Art 16)

    The Directive is relevant for the approval of landing / bunkering installations
  • Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control (IED)
    The Directive, which applies to the production of hydrogen (production on an industrial scale by chemical or biological processing) (Annex I, point 4.2) contains inter alia:
    • Basic obligations of the operator (Article 11)
    • The content of permitting applications (Article 12)
    • Permitting Conditions (Article 14)
    • Emission limit values, (Article 15)
    • Monitoring requirements (Article 16)
    • Access to information and public participation (Article 24)

    The meaning of "production on an industrial scale by chemical or biological processing in Annex I section 4" has been clarified by the EU Commission, in support of transposition and implementation measures. :

    Annex I Section 4 (“chemical industry”) refers to “production on an industrial scale” and contains no quantitative capacity thresholds. The scale of chemical manufacture can vary from a few grams (of a highly specialised product), to many tonnes (of a bulk chemical product); yet both may correspond to “industrial scale” for that particular activity.

    Various criteria should be taken into account to decide whether production is “on an industrial scale”, including such factors as the nature of the product, the industrial character of the plant and machinery used, production volume, commercial purpose, production solely for own use, environmental impact. Such considerations should take account of the primary objective of the IED as expressed in Article 1 as to "prevent or, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions into air, water and land and to prevent the generation of waste, in order to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole", complemented by the general principle set in Article 11 (c) that "no significant pollution is caused".

    The fact that the activity is carried out for "commercial purposes" may be a strong indicator of "industrial scale", […] However, it may not be sufficient to use the “commercial purpose” of an activity as the sole determinant of "industrial scale". It may also be important to take into account the potential environmental impact of a production sequence.


    Directive 2010/75/EU established an integrated approach towards prevention and control. This integrated approach means that the permits must take into account the whole environmental performance of the plant, covering e.g. emissions to air, water and land, generation of waste, use of raw materials, energy efficiency, noise, prevention of accidents, and restoration of the site upon closure. The permit conditions including emission limit values must be based on the Best Available Techniques (BAT).
  • Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive)
    The Directives (and their subsequent amendments) define a strategic environmental impact assessment procedure. The procedure is summarized as follows: the developer may request the competent authority define what should be covered by the EIA information to be provided by the developer (scoping stage); the developer must provide information on the environmental impact (EIA report – Annex IV); the environmental authorities and the public (and affected Member States) must be informed and consulted; the competent authority decides, taken into consideration the results of consultations. The public is informed of the decision afterwards and can challenge the decision before the courts.

    In line with the EIA Directive, Production and Storage of Hydrogen falls within the projects listed in Annex II (6a and 6c -production of chemicals; and storage facilities for chemical product), for which Member States shall determine whether the project shall be made subject to an assessment or not. In some EU countries, storage of 5 tons of hydrogen or more falls within the scope of the Directives.

    The latest amendment, (Directive 2014/52/EU) introduces minimum requirements with regards to the type of projects subject to assessment, the main obligations of developers, the content of the assessment and the participation of the competent authorities and the public.
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