Hydrogen initiatives ramp up

Registered Gas Engineer reviews some of the latest initiatives and plans to position hydrogen as a serious contender in the UK’s race to net zero.

The government is backing hydrogen production projects to further its ambitions for the UK to have up to 10gW of lowcarbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030: potentially that’s enough to power London for a year. It’s bringing forward hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure business models and aims to introduce legislative powers to support these new business models by 2025.

It’s signalled its ongoing commitment by announcing funding awards for new hydrogen projects from the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) aims to replace the UK’s energy supply with cheaper, cleaner, domestic sources including hydrogen, wind and solar, power with carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and new nuclear plants.

Hydrogen village heating trial

The industry is also preparing to increase its focus on designing and testing hydrogen heating appliances.

Cadent and Northern Gas Networks have each submitted design proposals for a hydrogen heating village trial to Ofgem and DESNZ. These apply for funding to convert a large village’s existing gas network infrastructure from natural gas ready for 100 per cent hydrogen. DESNZ will choose the successful village trial location this year, with a view to it being operational by 2025. The village trial is expected to last a minimum of two years and the results will help make further decisions on the potential role of hydrogen in the UK’s future heat strategy.

A hydrogen vision for the UK

The Energy Networks Association (ENA), alongside Northern Ireland’s Mutual Energy, has launched new report “A hydrogen vision for the UK”, committing to a vision of how hydrogen can support decarbonisation.

The report includes detailed maps of what the rollout of the is given the right tools and mandate to deliver its part in the hydrogen vision.

UK’s hydrogen infrastructure could look like in the years ahead, expanding to an integrated network serving industry, homes, businesses, power generation and some transport applications by 2050.

James Earl, director of Gas at ENA, says: “Gas network operators are ready to invest, innovate and deliver this vision for

Do you know your definitions? With hydrogen expected to become part of the UK’s decarbonised energy mix, the Industrial and Commercial Heating Equipment Association (ICOM) wants to make it easier to understand the different levels of hydrogen-readiness of boilers and other combustion products.

The report asks the government to show the same commitment to hydrogen network infrastructure development that it has shown to hydrogen production, expedite the development of critical business models for transport and storage, make key policy decisions around blending and hydrogen-ready boilers, and ensure that the planned Future System Operator hydrogen’s role in the UK energy system, but we need certainty from government to let them plan with confidence. Our gas network members pledge to work collaboratively with government, the regulator, businesses and the communities they serve to explore and deliver the significant benefits that hydrogen can have to the energy system, industry, consumers and the UK economy.”

ICOM has created three types of label to signify different hydrogen products: hydrogenblend, hydrogen-ready, and 100 per cent hydrogen. The labels will help heating engineers familiarise themselves with these terms ahead of the government’s decision on grid blending, which is expected later this year.

Director Steve McConnell says: “Use of hydrogen as an alternative to natural gas is a vital step in ensuring we can decarbonise heat in the UK. As a result, there are a growing number of products entering the market which can use hydrogen to a lesser or greater degree. These are labelled in different ways, so it’s important that [people] understand the different levels of hydrogenpreparedness.”

Hydrogen-blend products can run on natural gas with up to 20 per cent hydrogen added. Hydrogen-ready products can use up to 20 per cent blends now and, crucially, can be converted quickly and cheaply to 100 per cent hydrogen in the future. Products considered 100 per cent hydrogen will be able to run on a full hydrogen gas network without any need for conversion.

ICOM has also produced the ICOM Hydrogen Ready Appliances Statement to establish the definition of hydrogen-ready non-domestic appliances that would be supplied with 100 per cent hydrogen, including boilers, water heaters, air and radiant heaters and burners.

100 per cent hydrogen boiler demonstration

Baxi is supplying its 100 per cent hydrogen boilers for the H100 Fife Project, a hydrogen-to-homes demonstration delivered through a partnership between SGN and Fife Council, in cooperation with Ofgem.

The H100 Fife project will see households in the Buckhaven and Denbeath areas of Methil, on the south Fife coast, able to opt in to be supplied with hydrogen through a new network due to go live in 2024.

Construction has now begun on the H100 Fife hydrogen homes demonstration facility, which is due to open to the public in the summer. There will be two show homes, where visitors will be able to try out domestic hydrogen appliances.

The scheme has already signed up more than 300 householders who want to be part of the world’s first 100 per cent green hydrogen-to-homes

Oceans of hydrogen

Teesside University is helping a Tees Valley company bring a new hydrogen production process to market. Stockton-based Torvex Energy has developed a way to use hybrid electrolysis to generate green hydrogen from seawater.

Unlike conventional electrolysis, oxygen is not a by-product, so there is a significant reduction in energy consumption per kg of hydrogen produced. Using existing electrolysis technology, producing hydrogen required an electrical energy consumption of around 55-60kW/h per kg of hydrogen. Torvex says its method is almost twice as efficient, consuming around 25kW/h.

The Tees Valley Hydrogen Innovation Project at Teesside University helped Torvex Energy to understand the electrochemistry of its process and to verify its specific energy consumption and the amount of hydrogen it would produce.

zero-carbon network. Green hydrogen will be supplied via a dedicated ORE Catapult 7MW wind turbine connected to an on-site electrolyser and storage facility. Modelling suggests the turbine could provide the energy to produce enough hydrogen for up to 900 homes a year.

Plans accelerated

SGN is stepping up its hydrogen plans by accelerating work to develop and connect key hydrogen production and storage sites.

Over the next 12 months, the gas distribution company will undertake three studies in Scotland and southern England to determine the route and design of hydrogen transmission infrastructure to support its wider ambition to decarbonise heat in homes.

The work will also explore how existing networks can support the development of the Scottish and Solent clusters, as well as the likely cost and timescales of any new infrastructure required.

All three projects will connect to the national transmission system operated by National Gas Transmission (NGT). They will work alongside Project Union, NGT’s project to create a UK hydrogen backbone, transporting 100 per cent hydrogen, and connecting production and storage facilities with end users.

This involves repurposing up to 2,000km of existing pipeline in phases and represents onequarter of the UK’s current transmission network, meaning that minimal new infrastructure will be needed by the early 2030s.

H2 Caledonia combines two projects in Scotland’s Central Belt and Fife’s East Coast, while H2 Connect will develop a design to connect a hydrogen network in central/southern England. This project will focus on the future expansion of hydrogen production, storage and imports in the Solent region. ■

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