The CANDHy project (Compatibility Assessment of Non-Steel Metallic Distribution Gas Grid Materials with Hydrogen) brought its partners together in Rome on the 21st and 22nd of October 2025 for the 5th General Consortium Meeting. Moreover, the partners took advantage of this meeting to organise an External Advisory Board (EAB) meeting, the second one organised within the frame of the project. CANDHy partners reviewed the project’s technical progress, strengthened collaboration among them, and presented the latest results to the External Advisory Board.The meeting was hosted by RINA, at their facilities in Rome.
During the first day, Vanesa Gil, Head of R&D, and Lidia Martínez, R&D Coordinator from Fundación Hidrógeno Aragón (FHa), presented the achievements reached so far and reviewed the deliverables and milestones already completed within Work Packages (WP) 1 & 3. After that, the group toured RINA’s laboratories, which allowed participants to observe the facilities and technical capability supporting the experimental tasks within CANDHy.
The second day began with a presentation by Virginia Madina, Senior Researcher at TECNALIA, who reported on the progress of WP4. Ludovico Mazzocco, Project Officer at the European Gas Research Group (GERG), presented the status of WP 5, offering a clear overview of the current developments and the activities planned for the upcoming months. The morning continued with an internal review meeting in which all Work Package leaders examined the global progress of the project and discussed the next strategic steps.
Before concluding the consortium meeting, the 2nd External Advisory Board meeting took place. The session opened with a joint introduction by Ludovico Mazzocco and Vanesa Gil, who welcomed the EAB members. The first technical presentation was delivered by Lidia Martínez from FHa, who explained the definition of the experimental campaign. She described the structure of the Round Robin test, the individual testing tasks, and the current status of the experimental activities, offering an in-depth overview of the methodologies being applied. Virginia Madina then presented the analysis of the results obtained so far from the experimental campaign. This was followed by a presentation from Marina Cabrini, representing the University of Bergamo, who explained the additional tests required for the development and validation of the semi-empirical model that forms a central part of CANDHy’s technical framework. Her explanation highlighted the scientific rationale for the extended testing phase and clarified the next steps planned for model validation. The meeting concluded with a dedicated session for questions, comments and feedback from the External Advisory Board members.
