We are perfectly capable of handling various types of emergencies which do not happen daily, but we have to be ready for them and that is why the Emergency Mine Rescue Service exists,” said Robert Perkowski, Vice-President of the Management Board for Operations at PGNiG S.A., during firefighting and rescue demonstrations at the training ground in Zielonka on September 22nd.
Rescue demonstrations and fire exercises under the banner of “Safety and Technology in the Service of Environmental Protection” were organized in the military training ground of the Military Institute of Armament Technology in Zielonka by PGNiG S.A. in cooperation with the Provincial Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Warsaw. The main attraction of the event was the first demonstration in Poland of extinguishing a fire with a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas, resulting from a leak in the transmission system.
A spectacular rescue operation was also demonstrated in connection with extinguishing a typical production head used to extract oil and gas from domestic fields. The show was conducted by the PGNiG SA Open-mining Rescue Station (RSGO) team, celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, supported by firefighters.
Firefighters from the Mazovian headquarters of the State Fire Service together with the RSGO rescuers also successfully extinguished the fire caused by the LNG (liquid methane) spill and the fire caused by the leakage of the natural gas-hydrogen mixture from the transmission system.
“Introduction of new technologies, renewable fuels make it necessary for us to develop, train, introduce new equipment and new rescue techniques, respond to any threats” – emphasized Brigadier Dariusz Stumski, Deputy of Mazovian Voivodeship Chief of the SFS.
Hydrogen is considered to be the fuel of the future, replacing the fossil fuels used today in power generation and transportation. The development of a hydrogen economy is one of the priorities of the Polish Energy Policy until 2040. It is assumed that initially hydrogen will be blended with natural gas and used both in power plants, CH&P plants, and households.
Robert Perkowski, the Vice-President of the Management Board for Operations at PGNiG S.A. expressed confidence that high-purity hydrogen will become more common.
“Our competence will be focused on hydrogen distribution and storage because we are the only company in Poland that builds underground gas storage facilities and can store not only natural gas but also hydrogen in large salt domes,” he said.
PGNiG S. A. is developing competence in the field of safe transmission and storage of hydrogen and its mixtures with natural gas and biomethane. The Company is also the national leader in LNG safety, which is the axis of the Small Island Gasification Programme, where LNG-powered island networks will enable the gasification of towns that cannot be connected to the traditional gas network.