NEW DELHI, 28 January 2022: The Environment Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised a Webinar on Global Development in Hydrogen Safety on 24 of January 2022 with Eminent Speakers Dr Jan Roar Bakke, Executive Vice President, Gexcon Norway, Geirmund Vislie, Vice President – Hydrogen Safety, Gexcon AS and Rajendra Narkhede, Senior Vice President, Gexcon India.
In his presidential address, Mr. Pradeep Multani, President, PHDCCI mentioned about the International Climate Summit organized by PHD Chamber on the 3 September 2021 jointly with Invest India and in partnership with NITI Aayog, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and with the support of several Ministries of Government of India. The summit deliberations included setting up of a International Hydrogen Alliance similar to the International Solar Alliance and Centre of Excellences (COE) for Hydrogen across all the states.
He mentioned that Hydrogen clearly has the potential to transform our existing large reliance on fossil-based energy to low carbon and green energy to facilitate process of decarbonisation for our net zero transition. An increased relevance and advancement around the ‘safety case’ will play a vital part in the future deployment of hydrogen and will be vital to ensure that adequate processes are in place for things like the correct and safe maintenance and inspection of equipment that produces supplies or stores ‘hydrogen’ fuel, said Mr. Multani.
Dr J P Gupta, Chair, Environment Committee, PHDCCI while giving the Introductory Remarks talked about the importance of looking into the safety aspect for the new molecule Hydrogen. He also talked about bilateral cooperation between India and Norway through Centre of Excellences for Hydrogen and capacity building for Hydrogen safety.
Dr Jan Roar Bakke, Executive Vice President, Gexcon Norway gave an insightful presentation on Government Cooperation between Norway and India on Hydrogen Safety Regulations. In his presentation he talked about high level observations based on European/ Norwegian experience which might benefit India. He mentioned that Simplified legal processes for small-scale Green hydrogen production methods will greatly benefit. A simplified process for demo units will foster the deployment of H2 production units. He said that Inserting H2 storage-specific rules into the existing, relevant legislation will help in avoiding uncertainties.
Lastly, he mentioned that Bilateral cooperation between Norway and India with the purpose of establishing a regulatory framework that ensures safe use of hydrogen has been proposed on the background of significant Norwegian experience with developing hydrogen value chains relating to the petroleum & renewable industry.
The relevant Government authorities on the Norwegian side have established regulatory mandates and institutional capacities to engage actively with concerned authorities in India, said Dr. Bakke.
Geirmund Vislie, Vice President – Hydrogen Safety, Gexcon AS in his presentation talked about Gexcon’s Expertise in Hydrogen Safety. He apprised the panellists and the participants about the methods and softwares, like FLACS that accurately captures the effects of actual geometry and external parameters to give realistic simulations to ensure safe Design.
He also highlighted the activities to be done to verify safety like Hazard Identification to ensure that all relevant risks are captured, Hazard and Operability Study to ensure that any deviation from normal process conditions are detected and actions are to prevent development into a hazardous situation, Ventilation and dispersion studies to assess the likely sizes and locations of flammable clouds in the event of leakages, and that extend of ATEX zones and locations of detectors are suitable and Fire and explosion modelling to verify that events can be controlled so that risk to personnel and third parties is controlled.
Rajendra Narkhede, Senior Vice President, Gexcon India in his presentation talked about the opportunities for development of Green Hydrogen Regulations/Standards in India. The biggest challenge to the commercialization of the Hydrogen based technologies in India is the requirement of code and standards to get a sort of consistency and encourage deployment, said Mr Narkhede.
He also talked about some of the good practices to be followed during design like Limiting Hydrogen inventories especially indoors, to what is strictly necessary by technology, Avoiding or limiting the formation of a flammable mixture, Carrying out ATEX zoning/ Electrical Area zoning analysis, Combining leak detection and countermeasures, Avoiding confinement; promoting openings for natural or mechanical ventilation or explosion vents and Training staff in Hydrogen safety using Virtual Reality training.
Mahendra Rustagi, Co-chair, Environment Committee, PHDCCI while delivering the concluding remarks talked about the importance of Hydrogen safety for accident minimization. Further, he thanked all the panelists and participants for attending the Webinar.
The Session was moderated by Naveen Seth, Assistant Secretary General, PHDCCI and was attended by experts from India and globe like Mr Sturle Harald Pedersen, Chairman, Greenstat Hydrogen, Norway, Dr. C Laxma Reddy, Additional Director General (Exploration), Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Dr. Chitra Rajagopal, Former DS and DG (R&M) , DRDO, Mr. Umesh Sahdev, Executive Chairman, Hydrogenium Resources Pvt Ltd, Dr Mukul Das, Director, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Dr. S K Tyagi, Former Additional Director CPCB and many industry stalwarts pan-India.
The webinar was supported by PHDCCI’s Annual Sponsors such as, Multani Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Star Wire; P G Industry; Uflex Ltd; DLF Ltd; Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd; Belair Travel & Cargo Pvt Ltd; Radico Khaitan Ltd; Jindal Steel & Power; MMG Group; Paramount Communications; Superior Industries Limited; JK Tyre & Industries Ltd; SMC Investments and Advisors Ltd; Crystal Crop Protection Ltd; Sagar Group of Industries; Samsung India Electronics; Comtech Interio; R E Rogers; AYUSH Herbs Private Ltd; Apeejay Stya Group; DCM Shriram; EaseMyTrip; Blossom Kochhar Beauty Products Pvt Ltd; Oswal Greentech; Trident Group; MV Cotspin Ltd; Synergy Environics Ltd; Ajit Industries Pvt Ltd; P S BEDI & Co.; Indian Farmer & Fertilizers Corporation Ltd; Jindal Steel; Hindware Sanitary; Modern Automobiles; Livit Ltd; Axa Parenterals; Bhagwati Plastic and Pipes Industries; J K Insurance Brokers Ltd; DD Pharmaceutical Ltd.
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