Comparative study of regulations, codes and standards and practices on hydrogen fuelling stations

This work deals with a comparative study of regulations, codes and standards for hydrogen fuelling station dedicated for light duty land vehicles in the following countries: United States (California), United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Spain.The following technical components of a hydrogen fuelling station are included in the scope of the study: the hydrogen storage systems (cryogenic or compressed gases) and buffer storage, the compressor stations, the high pressure buffer storage, the cooling systems for hydrogen, the dispensing equipments and the dispensing area. The hydride storage, the pipelines, on site production and the hydrogen vehicle have been excluded.The analysis, performed in September 2014 in a report from INERIS DRA-14-141532-06227C BENCHMARK STATIONS-SERVICE HYDROGENE, is based on documents collected by bibliographic review and information obtained through a questionnaire sent to authorities and IA HySafe [1] members in the above mentioned countries.This paper gives a synthesis of the regulations and on permitting process in the different studied countries (including the new European Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in Europe [2]), it develops the required safety barriers in the different parts of a fuelling station and specially for the dispensing area, gives an overview of the different approaches for safety distances and processes to obtain licences to operate.