Today, most hydrogen fueling stations have been constructed to support demonstration projects, which will provide valuable data as hydrogen vehicles begin to penetrate the market. As the hydrogen market increases, existing fueling stations will expand to meet the demand. These facilities will offer hydrogen pumps in addition to gasoline or natural gas pumps. Other hydrogen fueling stations will be "standalone" operations. This page provides resources for developing hydrogen fueling infrastructure and information on government activities supporting infrastructure development.
Many of the hydrogen and fuel cell safety, codes, and standards in effect today are based on existing practices from the chemical and aerospace industries. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is coordinating the efforts of codes and standards organizations to develop new, more appropriate codes and standards that will ensure the safe use of hydrogen for transportation and stationary applications. Many of these new applications are in the retail environment and the new codes and standards reflect this transition from industrial to retail hydrogen applications. See the following resources:
DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Safety, Codes & Standards provides a wealth of information on current safety, codes, and standards, as well as descriptions of DOE activities in this area.
The DOE Hydrogen Program Web site offers a portal to information about current hydrogen safety, codes, and standards, as well as research and development activities in hydrogen technologies.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory studies issues related to hydrogen and fuel cell commercialization. See its Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Permitting Guide and online Hydrogen Safety for First Responders.
The National Hydrogen Association publishes Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety.
US Fuel Cell Council codes and standards.
The Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Codes and Standards Web site provides information on world-wide development of hydrogen codes and standards as well as current hydrogen codes and standards. It provides a searchable matrix by application or geographic area.
H2incidents is a database-driven website intended to facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and other relevant information gained from actual experiences using and working with hydrogen. The database also serves as a voluntary reporting tool for capturing records of events involving either hydrogen or hydrogen-related technologies.
H2 Best Practices: Hydrogen Safety Best Practices online manual shares the benefits of extensive experience by providing suggestions and recommendations pertaining to the safe use of hydrogen.
Among many considerations for code officials, the layout of a hydrogen station must meet specific requirements for construction and setbacks. The animation below provides an example of a hydrogen fueling station layout along with some of the required codes and standards.
Layout showing setbacks required for hydrogen fueling stations (Source DOE HFCIT Program)
The following organizations provide information about hydrogen and fuel cell equipment, technology, standards, safety, policy, advocacy, and more:
Find national and state hydrogen and fuel cell organizations using the AFDC Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Vehicles Related Links page.
In addition to the technical challenges being addressed through research and development, there are obstacles to successful implementation of fuel cells and hydrogen infrastructure that can only be addressed by integrating the components into complete systems. DOE is developing and testing complete system solutions that validate integrated hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for transportation, infrastructure, and electric generation in a systems context under real-world operating conditions. See the DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Technology Validation and National Renewable Energy Laboratory Hydrogen Technology Validation pages.
Visit the AFDC Technician Training for Alternative Fuels page to learn about organizations that provide hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure training. For educational resources, see the DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Education page.