Introduction of the SHIMMER Database for Safe Hydrogen Injection in the European Natural Gas Infrastructure

ABSTRACT Hydrogen is considered a low‐carbon‐emission gas when produced from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. The utilization of hydrogen as an energy carrier plays a critical role with respect to accomplishing the goals of decarbonizing the energy sector in order to contribute to the efforts for combating global warming. An important step in the transportation strategy for hydrogen is its injection into the existing natural gas grid, which allows accelerating the transition to a low‐carbon economy, in other words, hydrogen economy. The European Commission has established hydrogen roadmaps and strategies that emphasize the safe and efficient integration of hydrogen into the natural gas network to support this transition. In line with the objectives of the road map, several funded projects have been established, among others—the Safe Hydrogen Injection Modelling and Management for European Gas Network Resilience (SHIMMER) project. One of the main goals of this project is establishing a database containing a comprehensive repository of information regarding materials, standards, European pilot projects, and operational conditions parameters for the European gas network gathered from open sources as well as transmission and distribution system operators participating in the project. The SHIMMER database currently contains information on approximately 43,195 km of gas pipelines represented by 262 records, including details such as material grade, design pressure, inner diameter, and installation year and more. The following contribution describes the steps towards the establishment of the SHIMMER database as a reliable and structured source of information, which is now publicly available and open access. The database enables consistent assessments of hydrogen compatibility across different countries by providing harmonized data on materials, infrastructure characteristics, and reference studies. This framework supports addressing the challenges associated with evaluating components and systems for hydrogen injection across Europe. The database contributes to a better understanding of the existing European gas infrastructure and facilitates future research on hydrogen integration into gas transmission and distribution systems.