DNV GL launches HYREADY project to prepare natural gas industry for hydrogen; power-to-gas

10 December 2014

DNV GL has initiated a global joint industry project (JIP) to help prepare the natural gas distribution infrastructure for the injection of hydrogen produced from renewable sources. HYREADY involves stakeholders from the natural gas value chain, including natural gas transmission and distribution system operators (TSOs and DSOs) and technology providers. The project remains open for other participants to join.

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The HYREADY initiative will encourage the industry to ”Be ready for Hydrogen” by developing practical processes and procedures for the introduction of hydrogen to the grid. The project partners will work together to deliver a broadly accepted methodological description of the steps and aspects to be considered by TSOs and DSOs across the globe on the measures they could take to prepare natural gas grids for hydrogen injection with acceptable consequences.

We have seen an increasing number of projects needing access to natural gas infrastructure for renewable gases. With multiple organizations having the same objective, our industry guidelines will address the how-to questions for gas system operators so they can be confident both in preparing their natural gas grids for the accommodation of hydrogen and in the consequences related to hydrogen injection.

Successfully to introduce pure hydrogen (e.g. from Power-to-Gas) and hydrogen containing mixtures (e.g. syngas) into natural gas grids, the impact and acceptability needs to be assessed to evaluate amongst others the performance and safety of end user appliances, system integrity and integrity management, energy transport capacity and compression efficiency.

The project will run for two years and is split into four work packages; transmission systems, distribution systems, end-user infrastructure and appliances (both domestic and industrial) and the design of a hydrogen injection facility. The impact of hydrogen on the natural gas system will be addressed on both a component and system level. HYREADY will be based on existing knowledge: there is no experimental work foreseen to be carried out in the framework of this project.

HYREADY will capture the outcomes of the project into a practical methodological description of the steps and aspects to be considered to support the actual implementation of hydrogen injection into the natural gas system.