
H2 Pilot - DSO 10% Hydrogen blending project
Blatná na Ostrove village
- 300 customers
- 255 boilers
- 203 stoves
- 6 water heaters
- Gasified in 1994
- Houses, apartments, SMEs
- 9km network – steel 80%, PE 20%


Green H2
(use of guarantees of origin)
Project Timeline
January 2022
- Expert opinion and permit: DSO assets (10% blend)
March 2022
- Inspections – consumers’ premises
- Passportization of appliances
- Communication and PR activities
May 2022
- Expert opinion and permit: Off-take installations and appliances (10% blend)
- Manufacturer opinions
Jun 2022
- Expert opinion and permit: Mixing and blending facility
- Testing phase
Jun – September 2022 – Approved blending operation:
- Admixing 10% H2 in local grid
- Special procedures and activities
- Gas composition measurements
- Real energy consumption
- Controls and inspections
- Final report – Conclusions and recommendations
Activities during realization phase of the project 6-9/2022
- Blending quality online monitoring
- Blend homogeneity testing
- Tightness controls
- Old-type appliances control


Key Findings
- blending device worked reliably, dosing continuously and in the required volumes,
- chromatographic measurements performed on a weekly basis:
- demonstrated the homogeneity of the distributed mixture (approx. 10% in all parts of the municipal network)
- confirmed that H2 does not separate from the mixture
- after proper mixing at the dosing point the blend behaves homogeneously in the network
- if there are leaks of distributed gas blend, all components of the mixture are leaking (both methane and odorant, not just hydrogen),
- sniffing tests and measurements performed demonstrated a high-quality and sufficient level of network odorization and proved that H2 does not negatively affect the typical smell of the distributed gas in any improper way,
- inspection of the most risky end devices (32 oldest and/or atmospheric boilers and 25 stoves) during 3 months of use with a 10% mixture showed positive results in all cases – ignition, flame stability, functionality,
- leak detection surveys performed proved tightness of the network,
- from the start of the project in the village on 15/06/2022 until its completion on 30/09/2022, no relevant reports or complaints were recorded by customers
Conclusions and future prospects
Previous experience confirms that blending 10% vol. of hydrogen into the distributed gas does not have a negative impact on the safety, reliability and standard operation of gas facilities and common gas appliances – stoves, boilers and water heaters.
By carrying out the pilot project, we have moved significantly further in our effort to gradually prepare the entire distribution network for a mixture of gases containing hydrogen, or the future distribution of pure hydrogen in selected parts of the network.
Partners
Project contact person
About SPP-distribucia, a.s.

- Slovakia – 2nd most gasified EU country
- 94% population – access to natural gas
- 33 400 km network
- 6 300 km high pressure (25-63 Bar)
- 27 100 km city networks up to 4 Bar
- 1,5 mil. customers
- consumption 5 BCM/y
