Good practice:

Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association - H2IT

Since 2019, DIMA is actively participating to the activities of H2IT (www.h2it.it). In 2019, DIMA representatives participated (as external experts) to the roundtables for the definition of the new National Plan for Sustainable Mobility (Piano Nazionale Mobilità Sostenibile) to support the update of the national application of DAFI. The activities were devoted to the deployment of appropriate actions for promotion of H2 in trucks, trains, marine vessels and material handling. In 2020, H2IT developed a plane for supporting the spreading of hydrogen technologies. In this ambit, Prof. Borello, DIMA, coordinated the Round Table devoted to Mobility, preparing a detailed analysis including a list of possible supporting actions and indicating existing barriers in terms of normative and authorization processes. Since 2021, Prof. Borello is coordinating the roundtable devoted to the study of constraints and perspectives of H2 refuelling stations (HRS). This activity is very actual and in line with the specific objectives of the PNRR, the Italian implementation plan of the Next Generation EU strategy. The work is focused on the scrutiny of the authorization process, aiming at identifying the bottleneck and uncertainties, as well as the potential of HRS for trains, trucks, and cars mobility. A specific focus is dedicated to complex infrastructures, such as ports. The Italian situation is compared with other European countries ones, proposing possible improvements and simplifications.

The participation to roundtables and development of state-of-art and/or policy documents requires to involve senior researcher (Full or Associated Professors) as well as experts. Presently DIMA strongly supports this activity with the involvement of one Associate Professor and two Post-docs.

Participation to the Scientific Committee of H2IT and coordination of Round Tables in the field of Mobility. Release of state-of-art and policy reports collecting the point-of-view of the main Italian stakeholders in the field of H2 mobility: a) updated national plan of sustainable mobility; b) report discussing barriers and potential of H2 applications in mobility; c) proposal for a plan for deployment of HRSs following the objectives included in the national strategies and in the PNRR.

1. Proposing reasonable solutions for bridging the regulations gaps
2. Proposing support actions

The policies developed by DIMA in the framework of H2IT association led to the released of reports and policy documents, focused on support actions in the field of mobility (trains, trucks/bus and cars). The outcomes of such activity can be immediately transferred at national and regional level aiming at defining a harmonized set of rules & regulations for HRS as wells as H2 vehicles diffusion, as well as to deploying appropriate support & financing schemes. In particular, it is considered very important the analysis of the European regulations in order to reach a harmonisation in the authorisation process and to develop appropriate normative if not already existing a iming at ensure the appropriate safety rules while avoiding the risks of excess of bureaucracy.