March 2021

March 2021 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety Report

 Opportunities to Participate Directly in Development of International Requirements

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

There are still opportunities to participate in the development of a number of new activities to develop or revise International Standards within ISO/TC 197 (Hydrogen Technologies).  A list of recent calls for experts is provided below:

• ISO/TC 197 Working Group 5 is revising ISO 17268:2020, Gaseous hydrogen land vehicle refuelling connection devices.

• ISO/TC 197 Working Group 18 is revising ISO 19881:2018, Gaseous hydrogen — Land vehicle fuel containers, and ISO 19882:2018, Gaseous hydrogen — Thermally activated pressure relief devices for compressed hydrogen vehicle fuel containers.

• ISO/TC 197 Working Group 24 is seeking experts to participate in their new effort to design and develop processes for the definition and verification of fuelling protocols and the implementation of the protocols for dispensing fuel to hydrogen vehicles.

• ISO/TC 197 Working Group 29 is expanding its revision of ISO/TR 15916:2015, Basic considerations for the safety of hydrogen systems.

Interested experts are encouraged to contact their national member body. In the United States, experts may contact Jill Thompson at CGA at jthompson@cganet.com.

International Hydrogen News

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

In the past few weeks there have been updates from several countries announcing activities in hydrogen standards and regulations. This article highlights recent announcements from Korea, Australia, and France.

Korea Eyes Hydrogen Ships

An initiative is being launched in South Korea to develop safety regulations and protocols for the operation of hydrogen ships. It comes as part of a broader push by the Korean shipbuilding industry to develop its position in hydrogen as a fuel source for the shipping industry. For more information, see https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/korean-shipbuilder-and-class-society-working-on-hydrogen-standards and https://splash247.com/koreans-target-hydrogen-standards/.

Australia Seeks Legislative Reform on Hydrogen

In February 2021, National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) announced an investment of $1.85 million for the establishment of 13 regional hydrogen clusters across the country. The clusters are open for anyone to join and are intended to facilitate collaboration between projects and bodies across the industry on issues requiring input between competitors, such as legislative reform. This is a promising development that will likely facilitate uniform legislative reform regarding hydrogen across all Australian jurisdictions. Despite these initiatives, as at the date of publication, no specific laws addressing hydrogen have been tabled or introduced by Federal, State or Territory Governments.

A recent article in Lexology examines the current state of play of the regulatory environment for hydrogen, an opportunity that promises to be Australia’s greatest contribution to the decarbonization of the Asia-Pacific region.

For details, see https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f4ec2022-39c3-453b-bc7a-6e86c40c7506.

France Publishes Ordinance on Legal Regime for Hydrogen

France has published an ordinance setting out the legal regime for hydrogen, aimed at fostering renewable and low-carbon hydrogen.

Under ordinance n° 2021-167, dated February 17, 2021, three different types of hydrogen are now subject to dedicated regulations: renewable, low-carbon, and carbonaceous (fossil) hydrogen.

This new regulation incentivizes renewable and low-carbon (and not fossil) hydrogen production.

For details, please visit https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/france-releases-legal-framework-for-2118994/.

Interview with the ISO/TC 197 Chairman

by Dr. Andrei V. Tchouvelev, Chair, ISO/TC 197, and Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

In this fourteenth installment of FCHEA’s "Interview with the ISO/TC 197 Chairman" series of articles, Dr. Andrei V. Tchouvelev, focuses on the latest developments of the ISO/TC 197 Technical Committee (TC). I asked Dr. Tchouvelev if the TC program of work load is expanding as interest in hydrogen technologies continues to rise worldwide.

“Yes, indeed”, Dr. Tchouvelev answered. “In addition to our robust program on gaseous hydrogen refueling station components and systems, hydrogen generation technologies, and fuel quality standards, our Technical Committee has approved a number of new work items, which are already starting work.”

Activities recently started include:

• New Joint Working Group 30 (JWG 30), with ISO/TC 22/SC 41 Road vehicles – Specific aspects for gaseous fuels, to develop AWI 19887 Gaseous Hydrogen - Fuel system components for hydrogen fuelled vehicles.

• New Working Group 31 to develop AWI 19880-7, a new International Standard on O-rings.

• Refocused WG 24 on AWI 19885 -1, -2, -3 Gaseous hydrogen – Fuelling protocols for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles – Parts 1, 2 and 3.

• JWG 32 with IEC/TC 105 Fuel cell technologies and two other IEC TCs to develop a new Technical Report (AWI TR 22734-2) Hydrogen generators using water electrolysis – Part 2: Testing guidance for performing electricity grid service.

Dr. Tchouvelev was also anxious to share a couple of ideas for new activities discussed during the plenary meeting. “We have two New Work Item Proposals (NWIP) of note”, Dr. Tchouvelev said. “One project, proposed by Norway and the United Kingdom, which is completing vote, will address requirements for hydrogen fuel sampling. Another NWIP, proposed by the United Kingdom and Korea, to revise ISO 22734:2019, Hydrogen generators using water electrolysis — Industrial, commercial, and residential applications, is expected to be circulated soon.”

“In addition”, Dr. Tchouvelev noted, “during our Plenary meeting in December 2020, ISO/TC 197 welcomed the idea of establishing a new sub-committee dedicated to Hydrogen at Scale and Horizontal Energy Systems and encouraged me to work with Mr. Tetsufumi Ikeda (our new Chair-elect), and Technical Advisory Board to develop a proposal for approval by the Technical Committee and ISO Technical Management Board by September 2021 with the objective to launch a new sub-committee in January 2022.” The work on this proposal is currently under way and will be shared with the membership of ISO/TC 197 in the near future.

Per agreement with Dr. Tchouvelev, the chair succession and details of the new subcommittee proposal will be the focus of the next interview.

NFPA Update

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) maintains a number of Model Codes. These Model Codes form the basis for state and regional code requirements throughout the United States. Two Model Codes that are of significant interest to those using hydrogen and deploying hydrogen infrastructure are NFPA 2: Hydrogen Technologies Code, and NFPA 55: Compressed Gases and Cryogenic Fluids Code. The Technical Committees for both of these documents are currently in the process of developing their 2023 editions.

The Technical Committee for NFPA 55 has completed the First Draft phase of the work. The First Draft Report is now open for public comments, with a closing date: 5/11/2021. To access the First Draft Report, please visit https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=55&tab=nextedition.

The Technical Committee for NFPA 2 is nearing completion of the First Draft phase. The First Draft Report has been posted for public input, with a closing date of June 3, 2021.  The First Draft Report for NFPA 2 is posted at https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=2&tab=nextedition.

ANSI Releases Updated U.S. Standards Strategy

(Excerpted from ANSI announcement available at https://www.ansi.org/news-and-events/standards-news/all-news/2021/01/1-6-21-new-edition-of-the-united-states-standards-strategy)

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, recently announced the release of the updated United States Standards Strategy (USSS). The USSS describes the principles and tactics that guide how the United States develops standards and participates in the international standards-setting process.

The updated edition of the USSS and the consolidated response to comments received during the document’s public comment period were unanimously approved by the ANSI Board of Directors at its year-end meeting on December 9, 2020.

First published in 2000 as the National Standards Strategy for the United States, the USSS is updated every five years to assure that it continues to meet the needs of diverse U.S. interests and that it reflects technological advancements, industry growth areas, national and international priorities, and updates to relevant U.S. government policy.

Following publication, ANSI will work with stakeholders to promote and implement the USSS.

The USSS and accompanying background information are available at www.ansi.org/usss. A related document guiding the principles of U.S. conformity assessment activities, the United States Conformity Assessment Principles, is available at www.ansi.org/uscap.

About ANSI:

The American National Standards Institute, Inc. (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations.

The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org.