National Gas Tranmission's Project Union aims to help decarbonise the economy by proving that hydrogen can be used in existing natural gas infrastructure to fuel industrial clusters. Its director says there is a vital role for hydrogen in the energy transition, but clearer decision-making by government would help provide impetus to the industry.
The place of gas in the decarbonisation of the economy is one aspect of reaching net zero that provokes a lot of debate. While everyone (more or less) agrees solar and wind power will continue to provide more and more electricity, decarbonising heat for homes and businesses opens up a number of future scenarios. One of these is the widespread use of hydrogen as a fuel in the existing gas grid, or in new pipelines.
Engineers are already working to make this vision a reality. One of the leading hydrogen schemes is Project Union, which is creating a 2,000km transmission network for hydrogen based on repurposing existing assets alongside new ones – a network that represents roughly a quarter of the UK’s current natural gas transmission pipelines.
Project Union hopes to link strategic hydrogen production sites, including industrial clusters, across the UK by the early 2030s. In doing so, it will act as an enabler for developing a hydrogen economy of 10GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030.
Utility Week caught up with Danielle Stewart, project director, to find out more.
Dr Danielle Stewart, hydrogen project director at Project Union, National Gas Transmission
What role do you envisage hydrogen playing in reaching net zero?
Stewart: All credible pathways to net zero are going to need an energy mix. Electrification and renewables are clearly going to increase at scale. But you need alternatives for when electricity can’t be generated by renewables. That could be battery storage, but the other option is a decarbonised gas of some kind.
Hydrogen comes into play to support the power sector, as much as anything else. That includes the potential role of green hydrogen – using clean energy to produce hydrogen and storing it. That’s a great way of using electricity when you have more wind or solar power than you need.
So hydrogen will replace natural gas for power generation?
Yes, absolutely – especially for longer periods of time when there isn’t enough wind or solar power. To get to net zero, you need dispatchable power, and that will come from gas of some kind. Obviously, we don’t want to use natural gas – it’s not sustainable – you need an alternative. There are a few options, and hydrogen is one of them.
There are also several large industries that can’t electrify because of the nature of their processes and the heat and temperature they require; they need a combustible gas, which is where hydrogen comes in.
What are your priorities for Project Union in 2024?
We are coming to the end of the front-end engineering design phase for the backbone. We’ve narrowed down the options of where we need new build and which pipelines can be released from the natural gas system to carry hydrogen. We are now putting in a request for funding to do detailed design.
It’s a critical time if we’re going to deliver by the mid-2030s, which is an important milestone because of the power sector decarbonisation target. We want to support that.
We’ve broken the backbone up into nine sections, because you can’t do it all in one go. I would like to see us move into detailed design work on two or three sections by the end of the year. We are also going to be doing a lot of recruiting as the project grows.
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When you recruit, are you anticipating it will be easy to recruit the people you need?
It was hard over the past year, where we now have about 60 people working on the project. It is challenging because the whole of the UK wants to decarbonise. The nice thing about the programme is it’s broad, and not just about infrastructure – we are looking for a variety of skills.
There are some specialist roles and I think filling them will be difficult.
What are the other challenges in establishing hydrogen as part of the economy?
We need a clear investment framework. Before Christmas the Government published the Hydrogen Transport Business Model but there are unanswered questions on how it gets used, the frequency of allocation, and how projects develop. Planning and consenting are going to be a big challenge, because they take a long time – and that is why we are getting the project off the ground now.
How about in terms of the public perception of hydrogen?
There is a lot of work going on testing and providing the evidence for the safety case for hydrogen. We need to understand how hydrogen behaves in the assets on our network. So we’ve built a mini transmission network in Cumbria and we are putting blends of hydrogen in – we will soon have 100% hydrogen in those assets.
At the moment, there are no showstoppers.
What types of industrial customer are likely to benefit first?
Steel companies want hydrogen, and power generators, too. We are speaking to a lot of people who generate electricity today who want to use hydrogen in the future. Initially you will probably see it in localised industrial clusters.
The benefit of having a network is that you can connect up those production centres and make them more resilient if there is loss of supply.
Are government targets ambitious enough for hydrogen or is there scope for more support?
We have a lot of ambition and what we are seeing right now is great. Having said that, clear decision-making is needed to give confidence to the industry to get moving. There are too many ‘what ifs?’, so we need decisions on the elements everyone can agree on, providing they don’t close off options.
Are you glass half full or empty when it comes to meeting net zero?
I think you have to be optimistic. We can still do it. But it requires quick action.
There is healthy debate about what the right answers are, but also unhealthy debate that slows things down. We need to start delivering.
Danielle will be speaking at Utility Week Live in May. Want to register? We’ve got you covered here.
BLOG: Utility Week says that the number of hydrogen projects given the green light is a source of optimism for the technology.
Hydrogen projects get go-ahead as government eyes 2030 target
A paper mill in Port Talbot and a distillery in Scotland will be among the businesses to benefit from a series of new British hydrogen projects supported by the Government.
In December, ministers claimed they had announced backing for the largest number of commercial-scale green hydrogen production projects at once anywhere in Europe, with 11 new production projects helping contribute to the UK’s target of 10GW of hydrogen capacity by 2030.
The deal provides over £2 billion of revenue support from the Hydrogen Production Business Model, which will start to be paid once projects become operational. Over £90 million from the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund has also been allocated to support construction.
The projects have a strike price of £241/MWh, which the Government says compares well to the strike prices of other nascent technologies such as floating offshore wind and tidal stream. £413 million of private capital is being invested by the projects upfront between 2024-2026, with around 760 direct jobs created during construction and operation.
The new green hydrogen projects include:
· Sofidel in South Wales, which will replace 50% of its current gas boiler consumption with hydrogen at its Port Talbot paper mill
· InchDairnie Distillery in Scotland, which plans to run a boiler on 100% hydrogen for use in its distilling process
· PD Ports in Teesside, which will use hydrogen to replace diesel in its vehicle fleet, decarbonising port operations from 2026
See a complete list of the successful schemes here.
Sustainable infrastructure like green hydrogen is just one of the themes at this year’s Utility Week Live. Register now.
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