H2ready warranty mark

As a renewable or decarbonised energy source of the future, hydrogen is expected to play a key role in the supply of gaseous energy sources. However, the technical regulations for gas supply are not yet geared towards hydrogen. H2ready is intended to fulfil the wish of numerous manufacturers of gas supply and energy technology products to label the special properties of their products, namely their suitability for the use, storage or transport of hydrogen or hydrogen-natural gas mixtures, despite the lack of standards.

The DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg has been operating an accredited test centre for the testing of gas appliances and gas fittings for several decades. Against the background of many years of activity as a testing laboratory, experience in the development of testing standards and rules for the field of gas supply and application as well as on the basis of national and international research projects, co-operations and demonstration and pilot projects in the field of hydrogen supply and application, we have gained experience in how a safe hydrogen supply and application in public areas can be achieved. With H2ready, we are therefore presenting test rules that can also be applied to the supply of natural gas-hydrogen mixtures or pure hydrogen supply, based on the safe and successful supply of natural gas and the applicable standards. This is intended to document the high quality of the products and their suitability. As part of our standardisation work, we are committed to ensuring that the test rules developed are incorporated into German and international regulations.

Background

Appliance manufacturer – gas utilisation:

The majority of gas utilisation appliances for households, trade and industry can be adjusted to an H2 content of up to approx. 20 % by volume without a great deal of development work. The prerequisite for this is that the fluctuation range of the H2 content is also defined. Higher H2 contents require significantly higher development costs and most probably a change of technology in the combustion and safety technology of the appliances. Designing appliances for multiple technologies is considered too expensive and harbours a high risk of inefficiency and sources of error in appliance operation.

Mains operation:

In the DVGW project ‘G 201624/G 1/01/16 ’, cost-optimised paths were developed for a transformation of the gas infrastructure in the grid area, which expect hydrogen concentrations of up to 100% by volume in 2050. The provision of hydrogen gas mixtures in grid operation restricts the flexibility of the grids and could lead to very high costs for quality monitoring and dispatching and possibly for conditioning. Important issues for grid integration are the regional and seasonal availability of hydrogen and the security of supply in the future energy system.