Who would have thought that the use of ultra-conservative and overly restrictive fire codes was holding back the building of the hydrogen refueling infrastructure in California? Researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories discovered that by going with science-based, risk-informed fire codes aligned with the U. S. Department of Energy, that hydrogen pumps can be installed in some current gasoline stations in the Golden State.
According to Sandia, “The report examined 70 commercial gasoline stations in the state of California and sought to determine which, if any, could integrate hydrogen fuel, based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hydrogen technologies code published in 2011.
“The study determined that 14 of the 70 gas stations involved in the study could readily accept hydrogen fuel and that 17 more possibly could accept hydrogen with property expansions. Under previous NFPA code requirements from 2005, none of the existing gasoline stations could readily accept hydrogen …
“… The development of meaningful, science-based fire codes and determinations such as those found in the report will help accelerate the deployment of hydrogen systems, said Daniel Dedrick, hydrogen program manager at Sandia.”
Read the full 101-page report here.
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