Hydrogen Generation on Orkney: Integrating Established Risk Management Best Practice to Emerging Clean Energy Sector

The European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) ITEG project (Integrating Tidal Energy into the European Grid), funded by Interreg NWE, combines a tidal energy and hydrogen production solution to address grid constraints on the island of Eday in Orkney. The project will install a 0.5MW electrolyser at EMEC’s existing hydrogen production plant. EMEC and Risktec collaboratively applied best practice risk assessment and management techniques to assess and manage hydrogen safety. Hazard identification (HAZID) workshops were conducted collaboratively with design engineers, through which a comprehensive hazard register was developed. Risktec applied bowtie analysis to each major accident hazard identified from the hazard register, via virtual workshop with design engineers. The bowties promoted a structured review of each hazard’s threat and consequence, identifying and reviewing the controls in place against good practice standards. The process revealed some recommendations for further improvement and risk reduction, exemplifying a systematic management of risks associated with hydrogen hazards to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). Hardware based barriers preventing or mitigating loss of control of these hazards were logged as safety critical elements (SCE), and procedural barriers as safety critical activities (SCA). To ensure that all SCEs and SCAs identified through the risk assessment process are managed throughout the facility’s operational lifetime, a safety management system is created, giving assurance of overall safety management system continued effectiveness. The process enables the demonstration that design risks are managed to ALARP during design and throughout operational lifetime. More importantly enabling ITEG to progress to construction and operation in 2021.