© BMWE

Practical assistance for planning hydrogen projects

‘Mission Hydrogen’ which has been introduced under the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s 8th Energy Research Programme is to help build a viable hydrogen sector. Two research projects have been launched which provide practical assistance for those planning complex hydrogen infrastructure projects.

Ramping up the hydrogen sector more quickly will require not only technological innovation but also predictable rules, practical guidance and harmonised standards. The ‘Portal Green II’ and ‘Hydrogen Technologies Standardisation Roadmap ’research projects provide practical advice to practitioners, with ‘Portal Green II’ focusing on individual systems and ‘Hydrogen Technologies Standardisation Roadmap’ on the overarching level.

^{Five practice-oriented guidance documents for H2 infrastructure: Portal Green II}

Portal Green II has recently published five guidance documents covering the central aspects involved in the permitting, planning, construction and operation of hydrogen infrastructure – from large-scale power-to-gas plants and smaller facilities all the way to hydrogen pipelines. The documents include permitting-related and technical guidance for PtG installations, hydrogen installations that are part of technical building equipment, and hydrogen network infrastructure.

The guidance documents reduce uncertainty around the use of new technology and help streamline processes. This is being supplemented by an interactive map, which for the first time provides a concise overview of the projects that inject hydrogen into the network in Germany. This information can be used in practice by project developers, municipalities, network and installation operators and the relevant authorities to drive forward the expansion of hydrogen networks and PtG installations in an efficient manner.

^{Standardisation instead of isolated solutions: Hydrogen Technologies Standardisation Roadmap}

Whilst Portal Green II provides specific assistance for the operational planning of infrastructure projects, the Hydrogen Technologies Standardisation Roadmap focuses on the systems level: It defines the areas in which standards are needed in order to build a reliable and secure hydrogen sector. Clear standards help reduce the cost of development across all areas – be it production, transport, storage or use –, speed up market entry and build investor confidence

During the duration of the project, more than 700 experts from industry, academia and standardisation organisations across the entire value chain have analysed existing rules, identified gaps in standardisation and set out more than 300 recommendations. This has culminated in 69 new standardisation projects at national and international level.

The Roadmap thus makes a contribution to the development of harmonised interfaces and joint definitions, improves the transparency, security and reliability related to planning and operation, and increases the cross-sector compatibility and scalability of hydrogen technologies. This creates a common basis regarding technology and security-related aspects for infrastructure, generation, storage and use.

^{Why the combination of the two initiatives is key}

Both projects seek to drive forward the development of the hydrogen market. Guidance documents provide planners with practical advice, whilst standards create a solid technical foundation in the long term. This is to help hydrogen projects receive approval more quickly, to be operated more safely and financed more predictably.

This means that there will be less uncertainty, smoother implementation and clearer procedures in the future. The two projects thus make a direct contribution to ‘Mission Hydrogen’ under the 8th Energy Research Programme.