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On 4th and 5th May, the Sapienza University of Rome, on behalf of the project HyTunnel-CS, hosted the digital Stakeholders’ Workshop of the project. More than 220 people from Europe, United States, Canada and Australia registered for this event.

This workshop brought together tunnel authorities, tunnel managers & designers, tunnel operators, safety officers such as first responders, hydrogen-powered vehicles manufacturers and developers, as well as universities and research centres. The sessions were opened by HyTunnel-CS’ project officer, Alberto García Hombrados, who explained the FCH JU mission and highlighted the programme’s “bet on this kind of projects for a safe deployment of hydrogen technologies”. An introduction to the project, as well as a brief analysis of the state-of-the art, was given by Prof V. Molkov and Dr D. Makarov from Ulster University, institution coordinating the project.

During the sessions, aspects related to the safe use of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) in tunnels and other confined spaces were highlighted and linked to the safety systems needed in both vehicles and infrastructures, as well as the steps required for a safe intervention of first responders.

The technical sessions included 22 presentations from HyTunnel-CS partners, which aimed at informing about the available results of the project. They ranged from the effect of mitigation systems on hydrogen release and dispersion in confined spaces to thermal and pressure effects of hydrogen jet fires and structure integrity, explosion prevention and mitigation, first responders’ intervention and quantitative risk assessment of FCEV in tunnels.

Along the workshop, participants were able to debate and ask questions to the speakers, enabling a multidirectional communication and an exchange of information that the project’s consortium could build upon in the future.

Moreover, sessions were also open for external companies such as Northern Trains Limited and Alstom, two representative members of the Stakeholders Advisory Board of the project, who gave presentations about their work specifically related with hydrogen in the rail sector.

This workshop was considered a milestone for the HyTunnel-CS project partners, as it builds on previous exchanges of knowledge between academia, emergency services, research and development organisations by focussing on the first available results of the project.

 

 

The Stakeholders’ Workshop is a two-day public event that will bring together tunnel authorities, tunnel managers and designers, tunnel operators and safety officers, etc., but also hydrogen-powered vehicles and hydrogen delivery transport developers and manufacturers.

The aim of the Workshop is to inform prospective users about the mid- and long-term outcomes of the HyTunnel-CS project and to find a common ground for the future exploitation of the results. The Workshop wants facilitate open discussion on the impact, achievements and strategic direction of the HyTunnel-CS project.

Attendance of the workshop in person and by teleconferencing is planned depending on the situation with coronavirus.

 

From 4^th to 5^th May 2020, the Sapienza University of Rome will host a stakeholders’ workshop of the HyTunnel-CS project, an initiative led by the University of Ulster that focuses on pre-normative research for safety of hydrogen-driven vehicles and transport through tunnels and similar confined spaces.

This stakeholders’ workshop will be a public event that will bring together tunnel authorities, tunnels managers and designers, tunnel operators and safety officers, as well as hydrogen-powered vehicles and hydrogen delivery developers and manufacturers.

The aim of the workshop is to inform about the mid and long-term results of the HyTunnel-CS project in order to find a common ground for the future exploitation of results. The workshop wants to facilitate open discussion on the impact, achievements and strategic direction of the HyTunnel-CS project.

More details & agenda

Registration

This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 826193. Registration is therefore free, but limited to 70 participants.

FILL THE FORM TO REGISTER

Where?

The stakeholders’ workshop will be held on 4^th and 5^th May 2020. Due to the global Coronavirus outbreak, it will be broadcasted via web and attendants can participate online. 

The HyTunnel-CS project

HyTunnel-CS is a 36-month cooperation project led by the University of Ulster (United Kingdom) and with participation of the Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie (Germany), the National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos” (Greece), Universitetet i Sorost-Norge (Norway), Health and Safety Executive (United Kingdon), Danmarks Tekniske Univesitet (Denmark), the Fundación para el Desarrollo de las Nuevas Tecnologías del Hidrógeno en Aragón (Spain), the International Fire Academy (Switzerland), Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza (Italy), Stichting Nederlands Normalisatie – Institut (Netherlands), Service Public Fédéral Intérieur (France), Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (France) and the Pro-Science Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftliche und Technische Dienstleistungen MBCH (Germany).

With a budget of 2.5 million euros, this project whats to facilitate that hydrogen vehicles enter underground traffic systems at risk below of the same as for fossil fuel transport.