More hydrogen refuelling sites despite recent incidents

The availability of hydrogen at fuel retail sites is gathering momentum, but there was a temporary setback in June 2019 when a hydrogen refuelling station in Norway exploded, following an explosive incident in a hydrogen production, storage and refuelling plant in Santa Clara, California, at the start of the month.

Shell is operating a joint venture consortium which runs over 60 hydrogen stations in Germany with plans to reach 100 by the end of this year, and up to 400 by 2023. The H2Mobility joint venture consortium involves the German government, with private sector partners including Shell, Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV and Total. Shell also operates two hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, at Beaconsfield and Cobham (pictured). In the US, Shell has a network of 35 hydrogen refuelling stations and plans to increase the network to 100 sites in the next two years. In total, there are currently 39 hydrogen fuelling stations in the US, with all but a few located in California.

Hydrogen has lower ignition energy than natural gas or gasoline, but vehicle tanks can be filled at a  similar rate to petrol or diesel at filling stations, and the range of about 500 km per full car tank is comparable, whereas electric vehicles (EVs) require far longer charging times and offer a shorter range around 200 km per full charge.

Safety is a priority, but there was a setback in June 2019, when a hydrogen refuelling station operated by Norwegian company Nel in joint venture with Uno-X exploded in Sandvika, Norway, near Oslo. The fire was contained in three hours. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt but airbags in a couple of vehicles unfolded due to the force of the explosion.

As a precaution, hydrogen auto-makers Hyundai and Toyota temporarily suspended sales of their hydrogen fuel cell cars while the incident was investigated. And Nel closed a further 10 hydrogen refuelling stations temporarily across Norway, Denmark and other countries. Safety expert consultancy Gexcon attributed the incident to a leak in a specific plug assembly in a high-pressure storage tank. Hydrogen supplier Nel operates three hydrogen refuelling stations in Norway, and the company maintains that its core hydrogen technology was not the source of the explosion.

Earlier that month, an explosion occurred on 1 June 2019 at an Air Products and Chemical facility in Santa Clara, California, which supplied hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell cars. Thankfully there were no injuries, but hydrogen supplier Air Products grounded numerous fuel cell vehicles in the Bay area. The chemical plant explosion impacted supplies to numerous hydrogen fuel car drivers. Apparently, a tanker truck was in the process of being fuelled and began to leak. The explosion reportedly shook buildings for miles around.

More recently, the North West Hydrogen Alliance in the UK has written to Andrea Leadsom, UK Secretary of State, calling for the government to commit to accelerating the development of a hydrogen economy in the country. The alliance believes achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will be ‘impossible’ without hydrogen. It is one of a number of clusters bidding for over £130mn of UK government funding to establish the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040.

Shell Cobham hydrogen refuelling station at junction 9/10 on M25
Photo: Shell