Hydrogen journeys with Stäubli #1

Welcome to the first episode of Hydrogen Journeys with Stäubli, the podcast that takes you on a journey to discover the hydrogen market and meet one of its key players, the company Stäubli. For this opening episode, we're going to take a look at the normative aspect of hydrogen, or how the enactment of standards is helping to structure the hydrogen market, first and foremost in the world, but also in France. And to talk about this, I'm delighted to welcome two experts who both work at Stäubli, José Cardenas, Alternative Fuels business manager and Olivier Pastore, Assistant Manager in the Engineering Department. Good morning to you both.

Hello. We're going to start by talking about the normative context of hydrogen internationally. Olivier, let's start with you. Can you tell us why hydrogen standardization is important?

The importance of hydrogen standardization lies in its ability to establish uniform criteria on an international scale for safety, interoperability and equipment specifications depending on the application. This ensures the commitment of all hydrogen stakeholders and minimizes costs.

Then, if we go into the details of who sets these standards, can you tell us a little bit about the national standards bodies?

Recognized specialists in the hydrogen field are appointed by each country to help draw up the standards. Stäubli for example, has been appointed by AFNOR for France as an expert in fast connectors to take part in the standardization process. It is essential to note that the development of standards is a crucial step in creating a reference framework. However, it is the regulations that require the adoption of these standards and make them mandatory.

Very good to know. José, can you tell us a little more about the regulations themselves?

Yes, as it happens, the regulations are based on the published standards and require compliance with the criteria that are essential for safe hydrogen deployment with an emphasis on aspects such as safety and interoperability, particularly in the hydrogen mobility sector. As an example, the European Union has established a directive, AFIR, short for Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation, which is a regulation designed to promote the development of infrastructures dedicated to alternative fuels.

Perfect. So, if you have a key message to pass on to our auditors on these normative and regulatory aspects, what would it be?

We could say that standardization can have a major impact on companies in the hydrogen sector because of the heavy investment required for product development and associated testing.

So a word of advice before you start in the manufacture of hydrogen equipment would be to identify the applicable standards and regulations and assess the associated economic and human impacts.

What I can add is that the best way to do this is to join a national standards organization which will enable it to keep abreast of developments in standards.

Very clear, thank you both. And now that we've said all that, can you give us examples of key standards to which Stäubli has contributed?

As experts in fast connection solutions, for example, we play an active role in the development of ISO standards number 17268 parts 1 and 2, which prescribe the criteria for refueling devices for compressed hydrogen vehicles.

Thanks for this example. This leads logically to the question of what kind of hydrogen solution Stäubli offers.

For almost 70 years, we at Stäubli have been developing quick connect solutions for all kinds of industries and all kinds of fluids.

We should continue to innovate to meet all the needs of the hydrogen value chain, whether in production, storage and distribution, as well as various end-of-pipe applications.

Perfect, but please don't tell us any more for the moment. We'll be talking about that in a future episode, which will be dedicated to the quick connector developed by Stäubli to facilitate the safe transport of hydrogen.

Thank you both for your explanations. It gives us a better understanding of the regulatory aspects of the hydrogen market. Thanks also to our listeners for tuning in. Don't miss the next one which this time will be focused on real life use cases.

I see you soon.