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Introduction
The success of the President’s vision for a hydrogen economy will
rely largely on the capability of a multi-modal hydrogen delivery
infrastructure to supply needed quantities of hydrogen at competitive costs.
Concurrently, there needs to be sufficient demand for fuel cell and other
hydrogen-powered vehicles and power generation devices. Public acceptance of
this new transportation and power technology will depend on the public’s
confidence in the safety of those vehicles and power systems, as well as their
supporting energy delivery and storage infrastructure.
The infrastructure to support hydrogen fuels production,
distribution, storage, and delivery to hydrogen-powered vehicles and power
generation devices will likely evolve in stages. In the near term, a transition
to a hydrogen economy can be expected to rely on an infrastructure that
supports on-site production of hydrogen, limited use of regional hydrogen pipelines
for large industrial users, and some shipments of hydrogen by highway and other
selected transportation modes. Future distribution and delivery systems will be
determined by market forces and the technologies to support them, but could be
expected (at sufficient levels of demand) to evolve towards an efficient and
extensive pipeline delivery network similar to natural gas.
Ensuring the safety of the infrastructure for transporting,
storing, and delivering hydrogen will be critical to the success of a hydrogen
economy, as demand increases during the transition from industrial hydrogen (used
mainly for hydrogen’s chemical attributes) to more widespread consumer
applications based on hydrogen as an energy carrier.
For example, the current U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
packaging system which addresses small-scale use of hydrogen may require
substantial modifications to accommodate increased hydrogen demand. There is
already evidence that even a small variance in demand due to evolving changes in
technologies will have significant implications for the existing hydrogen
transportation infrastructure.
In support of demonstration activities, industry has begun
developing new packaging technologies and delivery systems—such as mobile
refueling stations—to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of deploying
hydrogen to consumer end use applications. Many of these technologies involve
packaging that uses new materials or operates at increased pressure over
traditional industrial uses. DOT has regulatory responsibility for the
validation, testing, and certification of many such new uses under the Hazardous
Materials Regulations, as a prerequisite for deploying them in transportation.
DOT is already experiencing an increased need for R&D in order to keep pace
with and respond to industry requirements and innovation. This demand on
regulatory resources is expected to grow in advance of the commercialization of
hydrogen-powered vehicles, the growing use of novel portable fuel cell power
devices, and the expansion of the hydrogen delivery and storage infrastructure.
To enable successful introduction of hydrogen and fuel cells into
the marketplace, the development of appropriate technical codes, standards, and
regulations providing high levels of safety and environmental protection should
proceed in parallel with the substantial pace of new technology development
that is underway. This development process requires a sound technology base. If
appropriate technical codes, standards, and regulations are not developed in
pace with new technology development, the risks are twofold:
- The lack of appropriate safety requirements could result in delayed technology introduction, lowered technology adoption rates, or unnecessary additional costs to deploy new technologies.
- Technologies could be introduced and adopted which, to some degree, pose unnecessary safety and/or property risks.
The purpose of this project is to identify gaps in the current
hydrogen technology base and to recommend solutions for closing these gaps.
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