Panel Debate: Hydrogen Safety Challenges for the Energy Transition

The main discussion points at this panel debate are as follows:

• Perceptions within the hydrogen industry around safety with comparison to other renewables.
• The transition from industrial use of hydrogen to public use of hydrogen.
• The rapid pace of change and development in equipment used for hydrogen systems.
• Regulatory hurdles and variations between regions.

About the Panellists

Kees Van Wingerden

Dr. Kees holds a PhD from the University of Bergen, Norway and an MSc from the Delft University of Netherlands. He has 43 years of experience related to gas and dust explosions. He has also been involved in numerous accident investigations. He is heavily involved in standardization work and has written numerous articles on explosion safety. At the 16th International Loss Prevention Symposium 2019, Dr. Kees received an award for outstanding contribution to the advancement of process safety from the European Process Safety Centre (EPSC). 

Currently, he runs a research project investigating the possibility of the occurrence of RPTs and its effects when liquified hydrogen is released onto water and the possibility of occurrence of BLEVEs of vessels containing liquid hydrogen when exposed to a fire and its effects.  

Lee Phillips

Senior Technical Safety Engineer – Major Hazard Management at Shell

Lee is a Senior Technical Safety Engineer with Shell Research having more than 25 years of experience within Shell’s Major Hazards group. He has been involved in the development of FRED and Shepherd, Shell’s consequence modelling and QRA tools, and has coordinated and managed large-scale experimental test programs, and provided steering to joint industry projects.

Lee is currently supporting the Shell Hydrogen business where he has developed an internal R&D program to better understand Hydrogen safety and support Shell’s energy transition program.

Externally Lee sits on the Advisory Board and Steering Committees of several multi-national Projects including EU-funded projects. 

Linda Febvre

Hydrogen HSE Manager at Engie

After almost 30 years in HSE in the Petroleum industry working in corporate strategy, engineering, construction and operation with many postings internationally, Linda joined Engie in 2019 as HSE Manager for the Engie H2 Business Unit.  Asides from the transversal responsibility for HSE across the Business unit, she is responsible for oversight of all the projects within the Engie H2 BU Portfolio, both in the French market and internationally. This has been a rewarding opportunity as she has been able to innovate and develop the HSE approach to transition energy projects. Linda is also an active member of the International Hydrogen Safety Council. 

Keith Warburton

Decarbonisation Development Manager at Wales & West Utilities

Keith has significant management and technical experience in delivering complex infrastructure projects and has previously held roles within National Grid, and Northern Gas Networks. Scottish & Southern Energy and, more recently, Lagoni Engineering Ltd.  

A member of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers and former Director of The Gas Industry Safety Group (GISG), Keith works alongside industry, academia, stakeholders, and customers to deliver a Net-Zero ready, low-cost gas network across Wales and southwest England. 

Keith is the lead for Wales and West Utilities on HyTech, responsible for reviewing and updating technical Natural Gas standards to accommodate Hydrogen, i.e., IGEM/TD/1, TD/3, TD4, and SR25. He is also a member of the H21 Steering Group (Northern Gas Networks), the Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Network Safety & Impacts Board, and the Integrated Hydrogen Trials Board. 

Meet the Moderator

Graham Morrison

Principal Engineer — Shell Software Product Manager at Gexcon UK

Graham is a Principal Engineer and Product Manager at Gexcon, based in the UK. He has ten years of process safety consulting experience, including various hydrogen projects. As part of his role as Product Manager for the Shell software products, FRED, Shepherd and PIPA, he has been involved in testing the application of the modelling tools to hydrogen problems. He also holds an MBA (Global Energy) from Warwick Business School, which heavily focussed on the energy transition.

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