This public report aims to stimulate awareness about required safety levels regarding large-scale green hydrogen production. A special focus is placed on fire and explosion risks associated with the combination of oxygen and hydrogen in equipment and buildings.
Green hydrogen production is expected to scale up at an unparalleled pace in the coming years. In the Netherlands, 500 MW of large-scale green hydrogen plants are scheduled for completion in 2025, producing nearly 0.5 million tonnes of hydrogen per year. The REPowerEU Plan reveals that the EU aims to produce 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen, in addition to 10 million tonnes of imported renewable hydrogen, by 2030.
This ambitious production ramp-up poses an important challenge to the industry. Large-scale industrial water electrolysis plants typically use hydrogen and oxygen inside the same equipment, separated by a membrane/diaphragm. Safeguarding process safety in the design, implementation and operation phases is a complex task. While experience with operations and maintenance is available for small plants, it is lacking for large-scale production.
The lack of historical data and validated models of failure frequencies and consequences means that electrolyser systems suppliers, asset owners and authorities have only limited data and knowledge on specific fire and explosion hazard scenarios. Due to the lack of a common understanding and standardised risk and design approach, different stakeholders may make different choices. This may then lead to delays in design and authorisation processes. It could potentially also lead to underestimation of the risks involved. The exchange of information on technical safety practices between all stakeholders will therefore be a cornerstone for enabling the hydrogen economy.
This public report aims to stimulate awareness about required safety levels regarding large-scale green hydrogen production. A special focus is placed on fire and explosion risks associated with the 1 Gigawatt Green Hydrogen plant: the advanced design
with the combination of oxygen and hydrogen in equipment and buildings. This project is a first step towards achieving a uniform and consistent risk assessment methodology for large-scale green hydrogen plants. In this way, we want to help the industry and stakeholders understand explosion risks and enable them to create safe designs for large-scale water electrolysis systems.
Download the public summary below.