The first study of its kind is taking place in the UK. Zero-carbon hydrogen is being introduced into a natural gas network that will heat homes and businesses.
The trial experiment will pump 20% hydrogen into Keele University’s natural gas network in Staffordshire and will provide service to 100 homes and 30 faculty buildings.
This location was chosen as the perfect site because the university owns and operates its private gas network, which is separate and isolated from the much larger UK gas network.
Keele has been working closely with businesses, graduates and academics to create Europe’s first “at scale” multi-energy-vector Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND). This project provides a real-world environment where new energy-efficient technologies can be researched and developed.
The team’s current £7m project is funded through a partnership led by Cadent along with Northern Gas Networks, Keele University, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Science Division, independent clean energy company Progressive Energy, and the integrated hydrogen energy systems manufacturer ITM-Power. Together they are backed by Ofgem’s Network Innovation Competition.
Cadent Chief Safety and Strategy Officer, Ed Syson talks about the importance of the project:
Urgent action is needed on carbon emissions and HyDeploy is an important staging post on that journey in the UK. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this trial to the UK – this is the first-ever practical demonstration of hydrogen in a modern gas network in this country. Hydrogen can help us tackle one of the most difficult sources of carbon emissions – heat. This trial could pave the way for a wider roll-out of hydrogen blending, enabling consumers to cut carbon emissions without changing anything that they do. HyDeploy could also prove to be the launchpad for a wider hydrogen economy, fuelling industry and transport, bringing new jobs and making Britain a world-leader in this technology.
For Britain or anyone else in the world to get to Net Zero emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be reduced. Hydrogen is capable of creating heat without emitting CO2.
83% of the homes in the UK use gas for heat and half of all the UK’s energy consumption comes from heating homes and industry, along with one-third of its carbon emissions.
By using this 20% hydrogen blend no changes will need to be made to the current pipelines, and people can keep using their furnaces like normal.
If the trial is successful, and they end up using this 20% mix across the UK, it is estimated they will cut around 6 million tons of CO2 emissions per year. This is the equivalent of 2.5 million car emissions.
Northern Gas Networks Chief Executive, Mark Horsley said:
Hydrogen is a key piece of the decarbonization jigsaw, and this milestone allows us to take a huge leap forward in terms of its use in meeting climate change targets. Customers are ready to embrace cleaner, greener solutions in their homes, and projects like HyDeploy give us the opportunity to start making a difference to emissions today. We’re very excited to be a part of it.
In closing the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Keele University, Mark Ormerod talks about the importance of the program:
HyDeploy is a pioneering landmark national demonstration project, using our campus as a genuine ‘living laboratory’ for low carbon and energy-efficient technologies.HyDeploy has the potential to be hugely impactful and lead to a step-change in the reduction of carbon emissions associated with heat.
This trial along with a similar project being conducted by Engie in Northern France could have global implications and give others a blueprint that will end up helping not only the UK and Europe but the entire planet.
