This is the conclusion of a new report published today by Cadent as part of Energy Networks Association’s (ENA) Gas Goes Green programme. The Frontier Economics report sets out the changes that need to be made for gas network companies to start blending large quantities of clean hydrogen with existing methane fossil gas in Britain’s 284,000km network of gas pipelines.
Growing a green gas giant: innovations in hydrogen production
HyDeploy project to add hydrogen to a UK gas network
The technical and safety case for hydrogen blending is being demonstrated by the HyDeploy project, showing that household cookers and gas boilers are capable of managing a gas mix of up to 20 per cent of hydrogen without an impacting the way those appliances are used.
Hydrogen Blending Commercial Framework - Frontier report
Network companies are currently allowed to blend up 0.1 per cent mix of hydrogen in the gas grid, but if a 20 per cent hydrogen blend was rolled out across the country it could save around six million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
The report concludes that setting a target date for new large-scale hydrogen production plants to connect to the gas network will help stimulate demand for hydrogen production, pump-priming investment in a hydrogen economy and keep Britain on course to build the world’s first zero-carbon gas grid.
ENA research shows that if investment into zero carbon hydrogen infrastructure began today, the country would be a net beneficiary of that investment five years ahead of its 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target, saving bill payers £89bn.
In a statement, Angie Needle, Strategy Director at Cadent said: “The Committee on Climate Change has said that for hydrogen to be a viable green energy option for the future, hydrogen projects will need to get off the ground in the 2020s.
“If that’s going to happen, government support with regulatory change and a clear statement on direction will really be needed right now to enable all the preparatory work for this shift to start.”
The report sets out a government target date for the connection of the first hydrogen production plant to the gas grid to help get projects off the ground. It also highlights how a limited number of technical changes need to take place to the way that Britain’s gas networks work to enable hydrogen blending.
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