Key performance indicators for the inherent safety assessment of hydrogen production and distribution system

Future energy scenarios envisage a widespread use of hydrogen as energy vector. Installations handling and storing relevant quantities of hydrogen will probably spread around the territory, both in industrial sites and residential areas, arising concerns on the safety aspects. In the present contribution, a novel consequence-based approach is applied to the inherent safety assessment of hydrogen production and distribution system. Alternative scenarios were assessed for the hydrogen system chain from large scale production to final small scale users. Hydrogen transportation and delivery was included in the analysis, introducing a rather innovative aspect for quantitative inherent safety analysis. The inherent safety fingerprint of the system is quantified by a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which take into account the actual analysis of expected consequences and the safety performance of the equipment. Several case studies were defined to populate the chain systems, considering both commercial technologies and novel alternatives. The KPIs showed the possible safety improvements switching from conventional to alternative technologies as well as critical safety issues that call for their future development.