MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 2006 TELECONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELLS CODES & STANDARDS COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Russell Hewett, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

MEETING DATE: November 1, 2006


1.0 MEETING PARTICIPANTS

The listing of teleconference meeting is provided in Attachment A.

Russ Hewett introduced the newest member to the Committee:

Mr. Samuel F. Lam
Senior Vehicle Engineer
Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Branch
Highway Operations Division
British Columbia Ministry of Transportation


2.0 REVIEW OF USFCC ANTITRUST GUIDELINES

USFCC members were asked to be mindful of the anti-trust guidelines, which can be found on the USFCC members website, as well as attached to the minutes of past meetings.

Antitrust Guidelines (27Kb PDF)


3.0 REVIEW OF/CORRECTIONS TO DRAFT MINUTES FROM OCTOBER 2006 TELECONFERENCE MEETING

There were no modifications suggested and the Minutes were accepted as final.


4.0 OPPORTUNITY FOR DOE/HQ REPRESENTATIVE TO PROVIDE LATEST INFORMATION ON WHAT’S GOING ON AT DOE

Both Pat Davis and Antonio Ruiz were unavailable to participate in the meeting due to previous commitments, so Carolyn Elam reported on DOE/HQ activities.

As was mentioned in the last two meetings, the Hydrogen , Fuel Cell and Infrastructure Technologies Program (as are other DOE programs) is operating under a Congressional Continuing Resolution. This is expected to last several months due to elections and holidays. An approved budget may not be in place before March 2007.

However, something especially promising has happened with respect to expected funding for the Safety, Codes and Standards Subprogram. Both the DOE Hydrogen Technology Advisory Panel and the FreedomCar Executive Steering Committee have recommended that the work of the Subprogram be a “High Priority” activity for FY07. Proposed FY07 funding for it has increased significantly. This will facilitate supporting all proposed codes and standards development efforts as planned, as per the National Templates. In addition, the proposed funding will provide for expansion of safety and outreach efforts.

5.0 REGULATORY LOGIC: STATUS REPORT
(Firm selected by DOE Golden Field Office to perform much of the codes and standards subcontract administration that, in the past, had been performed by NREL)

Carolyn Elam and Gary Nakarado reported on the status of the DOE/Golden Field Office’s efforts to implement the contract with Regulatory Logic LLC (RegLogic) to conduct the subcontracting with the CDOs, SDOs and other organizations that had previously been performed by NREL. Gary Nakarado is the Principal and Managing Director of RegLogic.

Carolyn reported that DOE/Golden is in the process of “dotting the ‘Is’ and crossing the ‘Ts’” with respect to completing the statement of work for RegLogic’s contract. The contract is expected to be in place by mid-November.

Where possible, RegLogic will seek to implement multi-year contracts with the CDOs, SDOs and other organizations. However, funding for each such contract will be determined annually, based on guidance from the Subprogram. RegLogic’s contracting will be limited to the types of codes and standards efforts that NREL had been conducting in the past. R&D-related contracting that NREL has been conducting in the past will still be conducted by NREL. Also, most contracts executed by RegLogic will be sole-source. Carolyn expects that RegLogic will be able to implement the first series of contracts in late November or early December.

• Gary Nakarado: Telephone: (303) 526-9190
  Email: Gary@Nakarado.com

The question was asked as to whether or not RegLogic would conduct RFP solicitations from NREL or DOE/Golden. Such efforts would continue to be conducted by NREL and DOE/Golden.

DOE and NREL are currently working on a transition strategy. Over the next couple of weeks, SDO/CDO and other contractors with formal agreements in place will be contacted. This will be done on the basis of date-of-subcontract expiration. That is, those whose subcontracts will be ending the soonest will be contacted the earliest.

6.0 UPDATE ON ANALYSIS OF THE DOT HYDROGEN CODES & STANDARDS GAP ANALYSIS REPORT AND RESPONDING BACK TO DOT

In Karen Hall’s absence (she was in route to Denver for the meetings of the NFPA Hydrogen Technology Technical Committee to be held at NREL on November 2 and 3), Patrick Serfass reported on the status of preparing the report providing industry feedback and comments to DOT from analysis of their report Hydrogen Infrastructure Safety Technical Assessment and Research Results Gap Analysis (April 2006).

NHA (with input from USFCC and members of the Coordinating Committee) has completed the report and it is undergoing internal review at NHA. After that, it will go to the NHA Codes & Standards Steering Committee for review. NHA plans to send the report to USFCC and NREL for their review before sending it to DOT as final.

The target date for submitting it to DOT is approximately November 15th.

The DOT Gap Analysis report can be reviewed at the following website: www.rita.dot.gov/publications/
hydrogen_infrastructure_safety_analysis.


7.0 REPORT ON HYDROGEN INDUSTRY PANEL ON CODES (HIPOC) ACTIVITIES

Patrick Serfass reported on HIPOC activities.

For the past several months, HIPOC had been focusing on the ICC 2006/2007 Code Development Cycle in which 15 hydrogen-related code changes had been proposed for three ICC International Codes. Of those, the respective code development committees recommended seven for approval and eight for disapproval at the initial Code Development Hearings held during the period September 20 – 30 in Lake Buena Vista, FL. The final votes will be at the Final Action Hearings.

HIPOC is waiting for ICC’s publication of the Report of Public Hearings (not available at the time of the teleconference meeting) which will articulate the official reasons for approval and disapproval of proposals. This was expected to be available on November 7th. The Report can now be found at the following website:
www.iccsafe.org/cs/codes/2006-07cycle/ROH.

The Report will initiate a public comments period. HIPOC will use the official reasons for the disapproval of the hydrogen-related code change proposals and the public comments to establish the basis for having the disapproved proposals re-considered and approved at the Final Action Hearings. They will be conducted in Rochester, NY during the period May 22 – 25, 2007.

The Final Action Hearings will result in the 2007 editions of the I-Codes.

HIPOC is a “virtual” panel to facilitate the adoption of new requirements for hydrogen systems and maximize harmonization of requirements in ICC and NFPA codes and standards. Now that NFPA 52 (Vehicular Fuel Systems Code) is in its revision cycle, HIPOC has initiated efforts to formulate proposals and review proposals developed by others for changes to NFPA 52.

HIPOC’s 12th open-to-everyone (teleconference) meeting, held on October 24th, focused on: (1) reviewing the code change proposals for NFPA 52 that they had received from Coordinating Committee members and other stakeholders; and (2) identifying and addressing issues relating to NFPA 52.

HIPOC is asking Coordinating Committee members and other stakeholders wishing to submit NFPA 52 code change proposals, to submit them to Carl Rivkin by November 15th. HIPOC is interested in receiving either or both of two types of code change proposals:

• Proposals for HIPOC to take up and go forward with
  
• Proposals to be submitted by others for HIPOC to review and support.

Instructions on how to submit a code proposal and other important information can be found at: www.HydrogenAndFuelCellSafety.info.

HIPOC will address NFPA 52 code change proposals in its (teleconference) meeting scheduled for November 20.

The schedule for the revision cycle for NFPA 52 has November 22nd as the closing date for submitting proposals.

Again, please note that the activities of the HIPOC are not intended to substitute for the procedures of either NFPA or ICC. Rather, the HIPOC is a group of industry experts with experience in getting consensus code modifications into the model codes. In this case, the advantage to bringing your thoughts/proposals to the HIPOC include the benefits of expert peer review as well as review by the chair and other members of the NFPA 52 committee (their personal opinions, not a formal NFPA response).

8.0 REPORT ON NFPA ACTIVITIES (HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP NFPA 2)

In Carl Rivkin’s absence (he was in route to Denver), Russ Hewett reported that the new NFPA Hydrogen Technology Technical Committee will be holding their first meeting on November 2-3 in Golden Colorado – the meeting to be hosted by NREL. However, the meeting will be held in a DOE/Golden conference room.

NFPA Hydrogen Technology Technical Committee agenda (131Kb PDF)

Major objectives of this meeting are:

1. Developing the scope for NFPA 2
   
2. Determining how the new code is to be organized
   
3. Organizing into task groups to initiate the process of extracting materials from existing NFPA documents and determine the gaps

Expected meeting participants (139Kb PDF)

The results of the meetings will be reported on at the December meeting of the Coordinating Committee.

9.0 UPDATE ON CALIFORNIA HYDROGEN FUELS PROJECT’S FUEL QUALITY STANDARD/REGULATIONS DEVELOPMENT WORK

John Mough, Chemist, California Hydrogen Fuels Project, gave an update on the efforts to develop hydrogen fuel quality regulations specifically for California. By state law, the regulations (or a standard) have to be in place by January 2008. The responsibility for developing the regulations belongs to the Division of Measurement Standards (DMS) within the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

DMS issued the first draft of a proposed regulation during the summer. For completeness, the draft is attached below:

DMS proposed regulation: draft (70Kb PDF)

John reported that, as a result of the two letters disseminated by DMS requesting comments on the draft regulation, several comments have been received and issues raised. They are in the process of addressing them.

John again invited Coordinating Committee members to review the draft regulation and get any comments to him by November 10th. After the 10th, DMS will generate a revised draft and submit it to the California Office of Administrative Law for issuance of a Notice of Regulatory Intent. This would start a 45-day clock, providing a new window of opportunity for comments. In addition, DMS would again disseminate a letter to all stakeholders, inviting them to comment on the revised draft. If DMS receives comments that result in their having to make “substantial” revisions, they will send the new revised draft to the Office of Administrative Law for issuance of a new Notice of Regulatory Intent, starting another 45-day comments/review process.

John re-iterated that DMS is interested in working with the Coordinating Committee and all other stakeholders to arrive at the final version that has to be in place by January 2008.


10.0 REPORT ON IEC/TC105 ACTIVITIES, DOCUMENTS IN THE“COMMENTS” STAGE AND THE HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELLS C&S MATRIX AND DATABASE

Kelvin Hecht was unable to be a part of the meeting, but submitted the report below.

IEC/TC105 Report (75Kb PDF)

Kelvin participated in the IEC/TC105 Plenary Meeting held in Tokyo during the period October 19 – 20.

Anna Stukas reported that, at that meeting:

• Robert Wichert was appointed the new convener for Working Group (WG) 7 (Portable Fuel Cell Power Systems – Safety)
  
• IEC/TC105 WG8 ( Fuel Cell Technologies – Part 6-1: Micro Fuel Cell Power Systems – Safety) made plans to meet February 8-10, 2007 in Tokyo.

There are currently no documents out in the Comments stage.


11.0 REPORT ON ISO/TC197 ACTIVITIES AND DOCUMENTS IN THE“COMMENTS” STAGE

Bob Mauro reported on the key current ISO TC/197 activities in October.

ISO/TC197 report (70Kb PDF)

The following are of special significance:

1. Technical Specification 16111.2 (Transportable gas storage devices – Hydrogen absorbed in reversible metal hydrides) has been published and is available for purchase from ANSI or the Compressed Gas Association.
   
2. ISO 13895 (Liquid Hydrogen – Land vehicle fuel tanks) has been published and is available for purchase from ANSI or the Compressed Gas Association.
   
3. DIS 15869.2 (Gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen blends – Land vehicle fuel tanks) has been voted upon by the US TAG. The results was a “NO” vote and several pages of comments.
   
4. With respect to ISO 14687:1999 Corrigendum 2 (Hydrogen fuel – Product specification), voting results are due in February 2007. The issue being voted on is whether or not to keep the standard the way it is or change it.

In addition, ISO (and the US TAG) have been asked to review and comment on two IEC standards:

1. IEC/CDV 62282-6-2 Fuel cell technologies Part 6-2: Micro fuel cell power systems –
   
2. IEC/CDV 62282-3-3 Fuel cell technologies – Part 3-3: Stationary Fuel cell power systems – Installation

Jim Ohi reported that ISO TC/197 WG 12 (Hydrogen Fuel Quality) will be meeting on November 9 and 10 in Honolulu, and that the Fuel Cell Test QA will meet on November 13 in conjunction with the USFCC Fuel Cell Seminar (November 13-17).


12.0 OPPORTUNITY FOR CDOS AND SDOS TO REPORT ON THEIR ACTIVITIES

SAE: Mike Steele reported that the SAE Fuel Cell Standards Committee will be having its last series of meeting for 2006 during the last week of November.

There were no other reports.


13.0 PROPOSED WORKSHOP PROGRAM FOR FY07

Jim Ohi reported on a series of new efforts to be conducted in FY07.

With Pat Davis’ concurrence, NREL has included in the FY07 Annual Operating Plan conducting a Codes-and-Standards-Requirements-for- Hydrogen-Fueling-Stations Kick-Off Workshop that would involve representative permitting officials, HFS developers and representatives from appropriate CDOs and SDOs. The objectives of the workshop would be to: (i) identify the critical issues; (ii) review the path forward proposed by DOE/NREL(and get feedback); and (iii) attempt to derive a consensus and/or fine-tune the approach for facilitating the design, construction and permitting of HFSs nationally. The Workshop would be the kick-off of an HFS-related initiative. Tentatively, the Workshop would be conducted in the late January/early February 2007 timeframe.

The Kick-off Workshop would be followed by a series of regional workshops to: (i) address HFS concerns of permitting and code officials; and (ii) develop an understanding of the requirements for and codes and standards and/or regulations used in the siting and permitting of HFSs in the states in the targeted regions. Ideally, these workshops might be conducted in conjunction with ICC and NFPA meetings and/or possibly incorporated into their continuing education programs, as appropriate.

When the workshop program receives final authorization, NREL will give a detailed briefing to the Coordinating Committee regarding the activity and seek Committee input for their planning and implementation.


14.0 OPEN DISCUSSION: POSSIBILITIES FOR NEXT IN-PERSON MEETING

With respect to the next In-Person meeting of the Committee, there was discussion regarding holding it in conjunction with the meeting of the DOE Codes and Standards Tech Team that had been scheduled for January 10 at Sandia/Livermore. However, the Tech Team meeting has been moved back to January 31.

Also, there was discussion regarding holding the next In-Person meeting in conjunction with the Kick-off Workshop discussed in Section 13.0 above.

However, no decision was reached. The issue will be on the agenda again for the Committee’s December teleconference meeting.


15.0 NEXT TELECONFERENCE MEETING

The December meeting is scheduled to be a teleconference meeting as follows:

• DATE: December 6 (First Wednesday)
  
• TIME: 3:00 – 4:30 pm EST
  2:00 – 3:30 pm CST
  1:00 – 2:30 pm MST
  Noon – 1:30 pm PST
  
• CALL-IN NUMBER: (641) 793-7000
  - Pass Code: 824011#

The agenda will be disseminated with the Final Announcement.

If there are items you would like to have on the agenda, please contact any one of the following:

• Karen Hall
• Sondra Ullman
• Robert Wichert
• Jim Ohi
• Russ Hewett

ATTACHMENT A: PARTICIPANTS IN THE NOVEMBER 2006 TELECONFERENCE MEETING OF THE NATIONAL HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELLS CODES & STANDARDS COORDINATING COMMITTEE

GUEST PARTICIPANTS

1. Ben Deal (California Air Resources Board) – subbing for Lesley Crowell
2. Harry Jones (UL) – subbing for Laurie Florence
3. Chris Manchester (Regulatory Logic)