📢 In our second major project announcement of 2021, GERG is very pleased to announce the approval by the European Commission and CEN of the European Commission funded project on pre-normative research requirements for the introduction of hydrogen into our gas networks. This is a yet another step forward in our work to support the acceleration of the decarbonisation of Europe’s gas networks and the industry’s contribution to GHG reduction targets.
📑 In development of this project, we worked closely with the European Commission’s Energy Directorate and CEN Technical Committee TC234 (Gas Infrastructure), who in turn involved stakeholders from across the CEN TCs and the wider gas and energy community to agree on eight priority areas for study. These are safety, gas quality, underground storage, power generation, industrial use, steel pipes, network equipment and appliances. The eight priorities relate closely to the height of the barrier to hydrogen introduction. A GERG member company will lead on each of the eight priorities.
A Supervisory Board formed as a new Working Group within CEN TC234 will oversee the programme. The work will analyse the current state of knowledge, building on earlier projects such has the GERG Hydrogen in Pipeline Systems (HIPS) report. It will then look closely at gaps in knowledge, particularly in relation to standardisation needs, and recommend pre-normative research actions to accelerate the removal of the gaps. The work looks at both H2 blends and “100%” hydrogen systems.
GERG consists of members of the gas industry and research and academia from over 12 countries, and began its work to define gas industry requirements for the introduction of hydrogen around two decades ago. We are closely associated with many of the major actors in the development of the hydrogen roadmap, including Hydrogen Europe Research (a reciprocal member). GERG is also an active member of many hydrogen-focused initiatives at European level.
💡 The GERG member community is really happy to be delivering this project for CEN, and will bring the expertise and knowledge of more than 20 operating gas companies and research institutes and universities, as well as the vast expertise of the CEN TC234-based Supervisory Board. We will link closely with other initiatives both in Europe and worldwide, and draw on developing knowledge in other ongoing projects to ensure as far as possible that the results are both comprehensive and unique.
The project will run until November 2021, and will receive funding of €1.1M from the European Commission via CEN.
