In this thread, you can ask questions related to the energy sector and the hydrogen sector! Remember to use the CTRL + F function, through which you might already find the answer to your question! ![]()

In this thread, you can ask questions related to the energy sector and the hydrogen sector! Remember to use the CTRL + F function, through which you might already find the answer to your question! ![]()
Let’s break the ice so others dare to ask too ![]()
Earlier, I came across a news article about hydrogen car refueling stations exploding (link below). For example, in the nuclear power industry, people’s fear of explosions has led to an expansion of regulation and eroded the profitability of companies in the sector. This could, therefore, impact the cost of safety measures at hydrogen stations and, consequently, the profitability of hydrogen fuel. The nuclear power industry carries the image burden of Chernobyl, while the hydrogen industry has Hindenburg.
Is the explosion of refueling stations a genuine concern or just hysteria? Is the use of hydrogen as a fuel generally safe (in terms of storage and transport), and is there a risk that a few high-profile incidents could destroy the hydrogen sector or a part of it, in the same way that, for example, Zeppelins suffered or the nuclear power industry after Chernobyl?
In my opinion, these are not directly comparable issues in any way.
Regarding refueling:
Without knowing the exact technical arrangements of hydrogen stations, the challenge is precisely that flammability and high energy (leading to an explosion).
In the use of hydrogen, just like petrol, so-called Atex-classified areas (explosive atmospheres) are created at fueling stations, so the given safety instructions must be followed.
Technically, the refueling process should also be arranged to be as safe as possible, taking this into account. The problem arises if a device, valve, or similar does not function correctly and there are also faults in the safety devices. For example, when getting out of the car, you are very likely statically charged by the car seats, and when you touch the car’s metal body, a spark is generated, which is enough to blow the station to smithereens if there is hydrogen in the air (a leak or similar).
However, I would consider the refueling process quite comparable to petrol refueling; sometimes fires happen, but by taking care of safety, everything is okay.
Traffic accidents:
This, in my opinion, is the biggest problem concerning the safety of both gas car users and rescuers. When a car goes off the road, crashes, etc., there is always a risk of ignition. Then, if the car has a hydrogen or other gas cylinder at, say, 200 bar pressure, the risks increase significantly, for example, in a fire situation.
I don’t know what gas was used as the power source here, for example, but it’s a good example:
Electric cars:
Electric cars can also be quite problematic in fire situations and from the perspective of traffic rescue. For example, a Tesla has 10kV live parts, and in an accident where the frame structures are crushed, one cannot always be sure which parts of the car have received 10kV voltage. It is not safe for a rescuer to work with the car to save people in such a situation.
Battery fire situations are extremely problematic for extinguishing, and I would expect, for example, parking bans to become more common in parking garages and underground facilities.
Nuclear power plants:
As for serious reactor accidents, the design requirement in Finland is “less often than once in a hundred thousand years.” In practice, however, known operators (Rosatom, etc.) easily achieve a category a decade better.
Also, nuclear power plants are not “driven” by consumers on the road; there’s a whole different group of people for that ![]()
Of course, that’s a genuine concern, not hysteria. Because we’re talking about an ATEX-classified gas, and one of the worst kind. As for whether hydrogen is safe to use in storage: Once hydrogen is compressed to storage pressure, it doesn’t change or pose any danger, whether the storage pressure is 50-700 Bar. The dangers arise when it’s compressed to operating pressure with compressors and when it starts to be taken into production, or, for example, when refueling. Flange/seal leaks are the worst! A seal leak can be so small that it can’t be detected by pressure measurements, even if the tank area is under continuous remote monitoring. If such a leak were to occur, hydrogen itself doesn’t even need a spark or static electricity; it ignites immediately with air in the right proportion. This usually results in a fire, not an explosion, because a real explosion requires slightly different conditions. If a fire does start, it’s a bit tricky
. Hydrogen burns with a colorless flame, and so hot that it cuts through everything in its path… The length of the flame depends on the size of the leak and the pressure. That’s why I don’t really believe these refueling stations will be located next to existing ones; instead, completely separate ones will be built for hydrogen… Back to the point
. If a fire starts, it’s usually extinguished by running nitrogen into the hydrogen line after the automatic valves have either tripped or been shut. So, why can one still say that hydrogen is safe to use after all this? Reaching the state I just described is a coincidence of many factors and extremely rare on a global scale. One significant safety factor is gas measurement devices that react and give an alarm and close the valves long before anything even attempts to happen… Just in terms of investment, the need for these will grow… someone here was asking about them a while ago, and I linked a company that manufactures them ![]()
I could tell a story about hydrogen transport too, but I’ll let others answer that ![]()
This was interesting. I understand that typically if hydrogen is discharged from an opening, friction from the flow or something similar can already ignite it as a jet flame, and this is probably the most typical fire.
But I haven’t heard that hydrogen ignites spontaneously in an air mixture without ignition energy… it would seem physically impossible at first glance? Would you like to elaborate? Sorry for going off-topic.
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This spontaneous ignition of hydrogen was a very interesting point. Here are a few papers I read when researching the topic:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753520302046
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S036031991833489X
As I understand it, this is still controversial and there’s no consensus on it.
But it’s a dangerous substance; the only mitigating factor is that hydrogen evaporates into the air really quickly and doesn’t linger in the leak area.
Yeah, I wrote it wrong; not at my sharpest after a night shift
… The ignition of a hydrogen-air mixture only requires 0.02 mJ of energy. Practically nothing at all
. But we can agree that it requires that spark ![]()
I could tell a story about hydrogen transport, but I’ll let others answer that
As an introduction to safer hydrogen transport and storage, here is H2-Industries SE’s press release.

It is good to familiarize yourself with the concept of LOHC, Liquid organic hydrogen carrier. VTT’s public research report can be found here: https://cris.vtt.fi/files/27082284/VTT_R_00057_19.pdf
Unfortunately, the companies mentioned in the report (you get to read
) cannot be bought on stock exchanges. An exception is Chiyoda Corporation, suggested by @Meri, which can be found on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a large ongoing project called SPERA HYDROGEN, where MCH acts as an LOHC.

Introduction of the details of CHIYODA CORPORATION
Is the explosion of refueling stations a real concern or just hysteria?
As was written above, the concern is valid. But what makes it an explosive concern? Well, Tesla, of course, and especially their current drivers. Here’s one of those very common and everyday Tesla drivers
. When they hear that they can drive with hydrogen and come to their senses a bit and switch their cars to hydrogen. Things are sure to start happening at the stations
. Sorry, I just had to
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Here’s another way to transport hydrogen around the world… Ammonia. The million-dollar question is what’s the winning way to transport hydrogen. At this stage, you can still get in at ridiculously cheap prices by buying the right coupons ![]()
https://www.utilities-me.com/power/15719-air-products-acwa-power-and-neom-sign-agreement-for-5-billion-production-facility-in-neom
Can you throw me a couple of ridiculously cheap (or even just one) coupons, and explain by what metrics it’s ridiculously cheap and why? If hydrogen has been discussed in a thread, a link to a message will also do nicely.
P.S. I largely have the impression that hydrogen stocks are all P/S 100 stocks and if there’s any business, cash is being burned at a furious rate etc., which probably isn’t true for a large portion of companies.
I can but I won’t. Because it falls under investment advice. And I don’t engage in that. There are proper authorities for that. I only trade with my own money and am only accountable to myself for it
. Sometimes it works out and sometimes I take a beating
. If you’re interested, go to the portfolio section and see what I own… You can conclude that it’s not going well for that guy
. And remember when you look at them that they were bought long before these really started to rise…
I’m not looking for investment advice now, and I’m unlikely to buy hydrogen stocks (unless you count Fortum and Neste), I’m just asking out of interest.
But if you don’t want to mention companies, what kind of multiples are “ridiculously cheap” and do they contain a lot of assumptions about the future?
It doesn’t contain any assumptions about the future… if it did, it would already be too late to pick the stock.
You recently added Ballard Power Systems, whose P/S ratio is in the range of 30. I assume some future expectations have been baked into this?
You recently added Ballard power systems, its P/S ratio is around 30, so there must be some future expectations baked into this?
Of course there are, every hydrogen stock mentioned on this forum has more or less big expectations baked into it.
I’d like to remind everyone that this thread was originally created for questions and answers about the energy and hydrogen sectors. Linking news feeds would, in my opinion, be more suitable for another thread.
In several discussions, it’s mentioned that the key to the hydrogen sector’s ultimate success is a long-term drop in electricity prices caused by renewable energy sources, to near zero or even negative. How well will companies in the sector fare if this underlying assumption doesn’t materialize and electricity prices remain permanently at current levels or turn upwards, similar to the oil crisis? Are there significant variations among companies in the sector in terms of coping with higher prices?
Even though I didn’t answer anyone’s specific question, reading the article I published will answer quite a few questions related to hydrogen’s potential, which is why I linked it here. On the one hand, people complain when the energy sector thread gets filled with hydrogen matters, and then again, I shouldn’t link related articles here. In my opinion, it’s already splitting hairs. I personally don’t like this trend where everything needs its own thread, but apparently I’m in the minority, so we’ll go with that.
Of course, it can’t be wrong to link articles or news if they are somehow relevant to the topic of the thread. For example, if you had introduced your link by saying something like “I found an excellent article that answers many common questions about the hydrogen sector, including x, y, and z,” then hardly anyone would have a problem with it. By doing so, people can use the search function to find that information and article. This is, by the way, a good practice in other discussions as well, to provide some context for the link and explain what can be found behind it.