With RePowerEU, Europe has embarked on an ambitious path to reduce its energy dependency and at the same time decarbonise its industry.
The European Metrology Network for Energy Gases, founded in 2019, aims to be the European reference point for consulting and certification of complex measurements in the field of gaseous energy carriers.
The network supports, in a coordinated manner, national and European governmental and standardisation bodies, instrumentation manufacturers, service providers and end users in the value chain.
The availability of methods, procedures and good measurement practices for instrumentation used in the distribution of natural gas is the result of a refinement process lasting just under a century that is based on a solid foundation of experimental measurements. The transition to a new supply system involves more heterogeneous supplies that will include biogas, hydrogen, synthetic methane, hydrogen-enriched fossil gas, as well as the transport and storage of carbon dioxide.
This new and complex context requires a new, deeper and broader measurement basis, which the EMN for Energy Gases takes on, helping to set priorities for metrological research activities so that the results obtained can be used by standardisation and accreditation bodies, instrument manufacturers and regulatory authorities.
The technical-scientific activities can be summarised as:
Elaboration of a multi-year programme (Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda) shared with the main players in the system (industrial, governmental, standardisation and accreditation bodies);
Dissemination of measurement methodologies and best practices, as well as experience gained during the conduct of innovative scientific and technological research activities;
Production and dissemination of the documentation required for the renewal of the international regulatory framework, in collaboration with European and international bodies.
In order to achieve these objectives, the network has given itself an organisational structure aimed at anticipating the metrological problems associated with the transition and to promptly propose the necessary solutions.
The EMN has launched an open access service platform to promote the dissemination and knowledge transfer of metrology services in the energy gas sector. Through this platform, it offers a single, integrated access channel to users of energy gas measurement services across Europe. The website brings together measurement and calibration capabilities and services, ranging from gas composition and quality analysis to flow measurements and materials testing.
The service platform aims to support the European and international gas industry, including energy gas producers, distributors and end-users in need of measurement services. The platform supports testing laboratories and inspection and certification bodies that may, for instance, require inter-laboratory comparisons, conformity verification and/or confirmation of metrological traceability.
The platform incorporates services provided by network members specialising in energy gas metrology, including BAM, BFKH, CEM, LNE-LADG/Cesame-Exadebit, GUM, INRiM, IPQ, JV, LNE, IMBIH, NEL, NPL, PTB, RISE, TUBITAK, VSL and VTT.
INRiM has contributed to the development of the Strategic Agenda by making its own contribution both to represent national interests in the energy field and to achieve greater coordination with European bodies.
INRiM participates in the Steering Board with its own representative and is active in the relationship with stakeholders and, with them, in the exploration of funding opportunities and research collaborations in particular in the European metrology programmes EMRP, EMPIR and EPM and in the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
From this collaboration, more than ten funded research projects have been developed, which, in synergy with the Institute's hydrogen programme (INH2P) and the projects funded by the Ministries of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT) and of Environment and Energy Sustainability (MASE), have resulted in a significant development of INRIM's research infrastructure on energy gases and hydrogen in particular.
