New HySUCCESS Report on hydrogen safety within the Dutch Permit Granting Procedure

This publication marks the second of two reports developed under Task 3.1 of the project, contributing to the creation of an ICT tool aimed at supporting hydrogen safety compliance. While this first report focuses on international and European standards, a second report will examine how these frameworks are implemented within the Dutch legal system.

This report is the result of research performed by Hanze University of Applied Sciences (HUAS) on the safety and environmental standards applicable to the licensing and permitting procedures within the Netherlands. It builds upon the research conducted in Part I where the European and international standards have been analysed. This research has shown that a significant amount of the European and international standards has found their way into Dutch law and technical safety standards.

This report first explored the various hydrogen applications that are presently being used in the Netherlands. Currently, there are three important categories of activities. Firstly, hydrogen storage in either gas-cylinders or storage tanks. Secondly, hydrogen fuelling stations where road vehicles can fuel with hydrogen. Thirdly, power generators that convert hydrogen into electricity. This report then presents an overview of the most important licensing regimes for hydrogen applications.

The first regime discussed is the environmental law regime. This regime regulates activities that can have a significant impact on the physical environment. In this regime, there are four types of activities that are relevant to hydrogen activities. Firstly, harmful activities for the environment. For hydrogen activities, this category encompasses several activities including storage, fuelling and hydrogen generators. With regard to storage, the law makes a distinction between storage in gas cylinders and a storage tank. Thresholds are applied whereby storage of small quantities of hydrogen does not require a licence. With regard to fuelling stations, a license is always required due to high environmental impact and potential risks of this activity. With regard to hydrogen generators, a distinction has to be made by combustion generators and fuel-cells. Combustions generators are covered by Dutch environmental law and under certain circumstances a licence is required. Hydrogen fuel-cells are not covered by Dutch environmental law, and the hydrogen fuel-cells is not subject to a licence obligation. Secondly, construction activities. Here the use of hydrogen applications is regulated in the context of the building activity. Thirdly, spatial planning activities. Dutch municipalities have to ability to introduce rules on hydrogen applications within local spatial plans. Fourthly, nature conservation activities. Given the local circumstances, the use of hydrogen can have a significant negative effect on local wildlife and can (or is) therefore (be) regulated. All four activities have a similar, but also slightly different, licensing regime. For this research, the most important finding was that the licensing regimes themselves do not contain specific technical standards for hydrogen activities but contain open norms or make reference to technical standards.

The second regime discussed is the labour safety regime. This regime contains rules and regulations for workplace safety. This regime has a licensing system for companies that use potential harmful or dangerous technologies that can hydrogen applications. The labour regime also contains a number of open norms and makes reference to technical standards. The last part of the research looked at the technical standards used in the Netherlands and analysed two standards that are most widely used in licensing processes. When looking at the technical standards, it becomes clear that these technical standards are somewhat similar to the formal laws that attribute legal binding force to the technical standards.

The technical standards themselves are made up of open norms, closed norms, and duties of care. The outcomes of this research will help to develop the ICT tool in the next phase of the Hanze contribution within task 3 of HySUCCESS. The open norms mapped in this research will be made more accessible.

Download report here: Milestone_3.1.1 HySUCCESS Part II HUAS