On October 8, 2024, the consortium of the European H2FlowTrace project "Flow measurement traceabilityfor hydrogen in gas network" met in Poitiers for the official launch meeting at Cesame Exadebit, LNE's Laboratoire Associé en Débitmétrie Gazeuse, which is coordinating the project.
A European metrology infrastructure for hydrogen
The European Union is committed to making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Achieving this highly ambitious goal will require a complete transformation of the energy system, which accounts for over 75% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen is essential to enable this transition, as it can provide energy with low or zero greenhouse gas emissions. By providing a means of short- and long-term energy storage, hydrogen is also essential for supporting intermittent forms of renewable energy, including solar and wind power.
The development of a hydrogen infrastructure must therefore be rapidly accelerated, but there is no large-scale, verified metrological infrastructure for traceable (and therefore metrologically valid) calibration of pure hydrogen flow for gas networks.
H2FlowTrace will help remedy this situation by contributing to the development of the required metrological infrastructure, which could reinforce Europe's leading position in the hydrogen economy.
During the meeting, project participants presented the activities planned for the coming years, with several presentations, technical discussions and workshops covering the project's 5 strategic objectives:
1.establish and validate a robust metrological infrastructure (consisting of one or more test benches) for flows up to 1300 m3/h at 1 bar or 45 m3/h at 33 bar;
2 Establish a robust metrological infrastructure for flows from 200 to 10,000 m3/h and pressures from 30 to 62 bar;
3.design and test traceability transfer skids for pure hydrogen and hydrogen/natural gas mixtures, enabling intercomparison of the metrological performance of the various European benches involved.
4.perform primary and secondary calibrations of domestic and industrial gas meters ;
5 Demonstrate the implementation and validation of an integrated European metrological infrastructure dedicated to H2 metrology flow, which will ultimately facilitate the adoption of the technology and measurement infrastructure developed within the project by the supply chain, standards bodies and end-users.
The consortium also had the opportunity to follow a laboratory tour, to discover some of the facilities that will be used in the project, and to gain additional knowledge about gas flow measurement, such as the calibration and legal verification of different types of flowmeters.
NaTran R&I is proud to be taking part in this ambitious 3-year European project, alongside 16 other partners (metrology institutes from a number of countries, meter manufacturers, and transport operators such as ENAGAS), in particular by using and developing its hydrogen flowmetering facilities, with a grant of €106,250 for this purpose.
"NaTran's participation in the H2FlowTrace project enables us to contribute to the development of a reliable metrological infrastructure for hydrogen flow measurement, essential for the energy transition. It also strengthens our position and legitimacy in the planned development of hydrogen transport networks. "
Julien ESTIENNE - Project Manager at NaTran R&I
The project (23IND05 H2FlowTrace) has received funding from the European Metrology Partnership, co-financed by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program and participating states.
