Closing the Regulatory Gaps and Advancing Hydrogen Infrastructure Deployment in Australia

With downward trends in Australian equipment manufacturing, there are increased numbers of overseas designed, manufactured and certified hydrogen systems being introduced into Australia. In parallel there are also opportunities for hydrogen and its carriers to be exported to overseas. Certainty of reputable codes and standards is important to meet regulatory requirements and community safety expectations locally and overseas.
This paper is a progress report of Hydrogen Mobility Australia’s (HMA) Technical Committee on mapping the regulatory, codes and standards (RCS) gaps in Australia and establishing a pathway together with Standards Australia, and Commonwealth and State Governments. This paper will discuss the benefits of the pathway covering the areas of:

• Safety – Enable Australia to implement consensual rules to minimise avoidable risks to persons and goods to an acceptable level
• Environment – Ensure protection of the environment from unacceptable damage due to the operation and effects of products, processes and services linked to hydrogen
• Elimination of barriers to trade – Provide consistency between international jurisdictions enabling streamlined entry of hydrogen related equipment from overseas
• Upskilling of Australian industry participants – Gain useful learnings from countries more advanced in their progress in implementing ISO standards and hydrogen sector development

This paper is jointly prepared by representatives of HMA Technical Committee and Department of Energy and Mining, South Australian Government. The paper also highlights the initiatives of Commonwealth and State Governments to advance the hydrogen economy.