Europe is increasingly focusing on the development of a hydrogen economy to achieve its climate targets, diversify its energy supply and become less dependent on fossil fuels. Hydrogen, especially the green variety from renewables and low-carbon blue hydrogen, is seen as a key technology for climate-neutral industry, heavy-duty transportation and energy storage.

Significant investments have been made in hydrogen technologies in recent years. As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission has adopted the Hydrogen Strategy, which aims to build up electrolysis capacities of 40GW by 2030. Many member states have developed national hydrogen strategies and are promoting projects along the entire value chain, from production to transportation/distribution and use.

The first hydrogen clusters are already emerging, such as the Hydrogen Valley in the Netherlands, the first phase of development of the Belgian open-access network within the ports of Antwerp and Ghent, and major projects such as the German H2Global programme. These are driving the international market ramp-up. Europe is also a pioneer in the research and development of fuel cells and innovative technologies for hydrogen production and use.

The coming years will be decisive in establishing hydrogen as an integral part of Europe's energy future

A key challenge in the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy is the development of infrastructure to connect hydrogen producers and end-users. Hydrogen requires a reliable transportation and storage system to efficiently use production surpluses from renewable energy and ensure a continuous supply to end-users. Existing natural gas networks can be partially converted to hydrogen. Countries such as Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands are already working on the first ‘H2 backbones’, a pan-European network that connects hydrogen producers with industrial consumers.

Storage technologies, such as salt caverns, pressure tanks and chemical storage (e.g. ammonia or methanol), play an essential role in balancing out seasonal fluctuations. They make it possible to use hydrogen as a stable energy source and increase security of supply.

Further regulatory and technological development are needed to ramp up the hydrogen economy. The following are important upcoming milestones:

1. Pilot projects and applications: Demonstration projects in industry (e.g. steel and chemical production) and in the transportation sector (e.g. fuel-cell trucks and trains).
2. Market integration: Creation of a uniform European hydrogen market with harmonised standards, prices and certification systems.
3. Expansion of generating capacity: The scaling of electrolysers as well as the increased use of offshore wind farms for green hydrogen production.
4. International partnerships: Establishing import corridors for green hydrogen from sun-rich countries such as North Africa or the Middle East.

Europe is in a good position to play a leading role in the global hydrogen market. However, this requires close cooperation between politics, industry and research to promote investments; remove technical, legal and administrative hurdles; and quickly implement the necessary infrastructure. The coming years will be decisive in establishing hydrogen as an integral part of Europe's energy future.

In particular, the definition of harmonised European standards to determine the nature of hydrogen in the European hydrogen core network has been the subject of intense discussion among industry experts for some time.

Status quo on standardisation

Hydrogen standards were developed when hydrogen applications became globally available, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors. Historically speaking, hydrogen standards typically developed with a specific aspect of the hydrogen industry, e.g., ISO 14687 ‘Hydrogen fuel quality – Product specification’, which focuses on hydrogen fuel distributed for utilisation in vehicular and stationary applications.

Gas quality is typically in a constant tension between producers and end-users

When it comes to hydrogen quality or gas quality in general, it must be remembered that a specification does not just contain a minimum threshold for the hydrogen content but also a list of trace components with accompanying limit values. Depending on the industry or sector, the effect of trace components can be of larger influence on the applications than the hydrogen concentration itself.

Generally speaking, gas quality is typically in a constant tension between producers and end-users. Whereas the first group aims to offer a broad variety of gas compositions, the latter usually aims for a narrow band of gas composition and therefore combustion properties. From a transmission system operator point (TSO) of view, a single gas quality for all networks—including all entry- and exit-points—is advantageous, e. g. from an economical point of view. Additionally, a minimum of purification at both producers and end-users is aspired.

Hydrogen quality specifications can be found in various international standards, e.g., ISO 14687 ‘Hydrogen fuel quality — Product specification’. Published first in 1999, ISO 14687 defined the purity requirements for hydrogen primarily used in fuel-cell vehicles. This standard set limits on impurities—e.g., oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons—that could potentially damage fuel cells, thus improving the performance and longevity of fuel cells and ensuring safe operation. ISO 14687 is updated periodically to reflect advances in technology and to address emerging issues related to hydrogen use in fuel cells. Other revisions have followed due to changes in impurity limits as new technologies and testing methods emerged.

With the hydrogen economy on the rise, several countries, organisations, standardisation working groups and national regulatory authorities started developing standards for hydrogen quality aiming at the entire hydrogen chain, some of which will be discussed  in part two of this three-part series.

This document has been drafted jointly by TSOs Hynetwork, Open Grid Europe, Thyssengas, Gasunie Deutschland, Fluxys Hydrogen based on a presentation made at a workshop on hydrogen quality organised on the 20 March 2024 in the framework of the Pentalateral Energy Forum. The presentation was discussed with TSO Transitgas and agreed upon by TSO Creos.

 

 

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Authors: Mohammed Mohammed, Tobias van Almsick, Peter van Wesenbeeck, Yoran Vander Eeckt, Simon Vetter