This project will look at the co-dependencies and consumer attitudes of the exit strategy mechanism from the Hydrogen Village project at the end of the trial period. It is unlikely that a finalised position can be reached in 2022 on what the preferred exit strategy should be but a clear steer to enable engagement within the hydrogen village community should be identified and then a process agreed for reviewing this position in-light of further developments should be detailed.
Benefits
The scope of this project is:
1. The recommended structure of the safety case should be provided which will include all relevant elements of the trial.
This should recognise that for the hydrogen village trial, a safety case will be required which encompasses the holistic identification and management of risk, i.e. not limited to the network as defined in GSMR, but to include downstream hydrogen utilisation and hydrogen production and storage where it directly impacts the network operation.
Consideration should be given to completed and ongoing projects and approaches to developing safety cases, e.g. H100 and Hy4Heat.
Adaptability of the format for future trials or wider roll out should be considered.
2. The framework should include identification of suitable section headings
The general intent to broadly follow the GSMR approach should be taken into account.
GSMR sections which are not applicable to the trial should be identified.
New / additional sections that are required due to the conversion to hydrogen should be identified. This will be particularly important for those parts of the trial that are not currently covered within existing safety cases (downstream).
How downstream and production (if applicable) operations will be incorporated should be considered. This will include whether one or more documents are required, and where one document is recommended how these elements are incorporated within the text or whether sit in appendices or similar.
3. The framework should identify the content to be included within each section. As a minimum identify the level of detail and range of content, including indicative text.
Consideration should be given to the following documents;
• GSMR Schedules 1 & 2
• HSE’s Safety Case Assessment Manual (SCAM)
• Examples of content of existing safety cases accepted by the HSE
4. The recommended content should identify how the range of evidence required for a hydrogen trial will be covered within a safety case, either by direct inclusion or referenced from a safety case.
Consideration should be given to “HSE Safety Assurance Protocol : Hydrogen for Heat : Safety Demonstration : Considerations for Trials”.
5. Identify and agree suitable HSE engagement
HSE have confirmed their intent to engage with the development of proposals for a safety case framework.
It should be noted that there is no financial benefit for the consumer to this project.
Learnings
Outcomes
The outcomes of the project are
A hydrogen safety case framework consisting of;
· Overview of the safety case approach and associated legislation / guidance
· Production and Storage Safety Case Framework
· Distribution Safety Case Framework
· End User Safety Case Framework
An updated ‘Hydrogen Trials Considerations’ spreadsheet, which includes the mapping of the relevant paragraphs of the HSE’s 'Evidence for converting a trial area to hydrogen' to the appropriate sections of the safety case frameworks.
The project does not deliver a completed safety case, but does provide a consistent structure to allow operator and network specific content to be described as the basis for demonstrating safety of infrastructure for supplying hydrogen to consumers. The operators of the proposed hydrogen village trial areas are using the outcomes (safety case frameworks) to develop specific safety cases.
Lessons Learnt
A stakeholder workshop was planned as part of the project. The proposal included that the workshop could be remote or face-to-face. The workshop was arranged to be hybrid. Due to existing commitments, it was challenging initially to find a suitable date which was convenient for the key stakeholders. A workshop date was arranged which was slightly later in the project programme than planned, but which allowed the key stakeholders to attend. This then benefitted the project as key stakeholders were able to participate and contribute. Good practice is to arrange project workshops to ensure that key stakeholders can attend, including flexibility in the project plan where needed.
As part of this collaborative project, some members engaged third parties (consultants) to support them. A lessons learnt is to obtain clarification at the project outset regarding which parties are involved in the project, including third parties, and the extent of their involvement, e.g. review / provision of comments. This can then be incorporated into the project plan, including time to receive and address all comments.
The output was well received and is the framework is already being used to develop draft safety cases for both hydrogen village proposals.
