United Kingdom

Britain stands on the cusp of a world-leading hydrogen revolution and one which we are almost uniquely positioned to take advantage of. With an extensive world-leading gas grid huge amounts of offshore wind resource and liquid energy markets there are few other places as well positioned as the UK to lead the international race to build a hydrogen economy. Published as part of Energy Networks Association’s Gas Goes Green programme Britain’s Hydrogen Network Plan will play a vital role in delivering the UK’s ambitions for hydrogen as set out in the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan For A Green Industrial Revolution.<br/>This Plan sets out how Britain’s gas network companies will enable 100% hydrogen to be transported for use in different sectors of the UK economy. It also identifies the wider actions needed to provide hydrogen production and storage showing how transitioning the gas networks to hydrogen will allow hydrogen to play a full role in achieving net zero in the hard to decarbonise sectors such as industry heavy transport and domestic heating saving an estimated 40 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. All five of Britain’s gas network companies responsible for owning and operating £24bn of critical national energy infrastructure are committing through this Plan to delivering this work. It forms a key part of their ambition to building the world’s first zero carbon gas grid here in the UK.<br/>Britain’s Hydrogen Network Plan is founded on four tenets that will underpin the role of Britain’s gas network infrastructure in a hydrogen economy. These tenets reflect the breadth and scale of the impact that the transformation of our gas networks will have. They will guide how gas network companies ensure people’s safety in a fast moving and changing energy system. They reflect how the companies will maintain security of supply to our homes and businesses as we move away from the natural gas that has been the bedrock of our energy system for half a century. They will support the public’s ability to choose the right technology so households and businesses can choose the low carbon technologies that are best suited to their needs. And they will deliver jobs and investment so the transition of our gas networks has a lasting and enduring economic impact in communities across the country.<br/>As we look to the future the exciting role that hydrogen has to play in delivering a net zero economy is becoming increasingly clear. We look forward to working closely with the customers we serve the Government and the wider energy industry to turn that ambition into reality.

Energy transition is a part of a much wider Grand Transition which is not all about energy. Energy transition cannot be achieved all at once or by any one actor. Relying only on better energy modelling and forecasting to guide successful transition will be fatal even in a data-rich era.<br/>It is timely for energy leaders to ask:<br/>Are global energy scenarios achieving their potential in opening up action on new energy futures?<br/>How do the Council’s World Energy Scenarios compare with global energy outlooks scenarios and normative visions used by others and what can we learn by contrasting the increasing richness of energy futures thinking?<br/>In anticipation of the 24th World Energy Congress the Council is refreshing its global energy foresight and updating its global scenarios narratives. The focus is on an ‘innovation twist to 2040’ and the use of scenarios to explore and navigate new exponential growth opportunities for accelerating successful energy transition in an era of epic and disruptive innovation.<br/>As a part of the refresh the Council has conducted a comparison study of global energy scenarios in order to test the continued plausibility relevance and challenge of its own existing scenario set the World Energy Scenarios 2016 launched at the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul in 2016.<br/>By comparing the methods narratives and assumptions associated with a benchmarkable set of global energy futures initiatives and studies the Council seeks to provide our members with clearer understanding and new insights on energy transition while preparing them to better engage with leadership dialogues which pivot on visions of a new energy future.<br/>The review also provides an opportunity to reflect on the challenges and obstacles for utilising global energy scenarios to drive impact and the challenges in bridging agile and flexible qualitative storytelling with long term quantitative energy modelling."

Liquid hydrogen carriers are considered to be attractive hydrogen storage options because of their ease of integration into existing chemical transportation infrastructures when compared with liquid or compressed hydrogen. The development of such carriers forms part of the work of the International Energy Agency Task 32: Hydrogen-Based Energy Storage. Here we report the state-of-the-art for ammonia-based and liquid organic hydrogen carriers with a particular focus on the challenge of ensuring easily regenerable high-density hydrogen storage.

In this podcast David Ledesma talks to Martin Lambert Head of OIES Hydrogen Research about the key messages from the recent European Hydrogen Conference and how they fit with the ongoing research in OIES.   In particular they cover the heightened energy security concerns following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and hydrogen ambitions in the REPowerEU document published by the European Commission in early March 2002.   They then go on to talk about the growing realism about where hydrogen is more likely to play a role and some of the key challenges to be overcome. Addressing the challenges of creating business cases for use of hydrogen in specific sectors and for transporting it to customers the conversation also addresses the importance of hydrogen storage and the recognition that this area needs more focus both technically and commercially.   Finally they talk about the geopolitics of hydrogen and how energy security concerns may influence future development pathways.

The podcast can be found on their website

This White Paper has been commissioned by the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell (H2FC) SUPERGEN Hub to examine the roles and potential benefits of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for heat provision in future low-carbon energy systems. The H2FC SUPERGEN Hub is an inclusive network encompassing the entire UK hydrogen and fuel cells research community with around 100 UK-based academics supported by key stakeholders from industry and government. It is funded by the UK EPSRC research council as part of the RCUK Energy Programme. This paper is the first of four that will be published over the lifetime of the Hub with the others examining: (i) low-carbon energy systems (including balancing renewable intermittency); (ii) low-carbon transport systems; and (iii) the provision of secure and affordable energy supplies for the future

• Hydrogen and fuel cells are part of the cost-optimal heating technology portfolio in long-term UK energy system scenarios.
• Fuel cell CHP is already being deployed commercially around the world.
• Hydrogen can be a zero-carbon alternative to natural gas. Most technologies that use natural gas can be adapted to use hydrogen and still provide the same level of service.
• Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies avoid some of the disadvantages of other low-carbon heating technologies.

The authors presented a basic mathematical model for estimating peak overpressure attained in vented explosions of hydrogen in a previous study (Sinha et al. [1]). The model focussed on idealized cases of hydrogen and was not applicable for realistic accidental scenarios like presence of obstacles initial turbulent mixture etc. In the present study the underlying framework of the model is reformulated to overcome these limitations. The flame shape computations are simplified. A more accurate and simpler formulation for venting is also introduced. Further by using simplifying assumptions and algebraic manipulations the detailed model consisting of several equations is reduced to a single equation with only four parameters. Two of these parameters depend only on fuel properties and a standard table provided in the Appendix can be used. Therefore to compute the overpressure only the two parameters based on enclosure geometry need to be evaluated. This greatly simplifies the model and calculation effort. Also since the focus of previous investigation was hydrogen properties of hydrocarbon fuels which are much more widely used were not accounted for. The present model also accounts for thermo-physical properties of hydrocarbons and provides table for fuel parameters to be used in the final equation for propane and methane. The model is also improved by addition of different sub-models to account for various realistic accidental scenarios. Moreover no adjustable parameters are used; the same equation is used for all conditions and all gases. Predictions from this simplified model are compared with experimentally measured values of overpressure for hydrogen and hydrocarbons and found to be in good agreement. First the results from experiments focussing on idealized conditions of uniformly mixed fuel in an empty enclosure under quiescent conditions are considered. Further the model applicability is also tested for realistic conditions of accidental explosion consisting of obstacles inside the enclosure non-uniform fuel distribution initial turbulent mixture etc. For all the cases tested the new simple model is found to produce reasonably good predictions.

Through the combustion of fossil fuels the transport sector is responsible for 20-30% of global CO2 emissions. We can support the net-zero one ambition by decarbonising transport modes using green hydrogen fuelled options – hydrogen generated from renewable energy sources such as offshore wind.<br/><br/>We have been working with clients across the hydrogen industry for several years specifically around the generation dispatch and use of hydrogen within energy systems. However interest is swiftly moving to wider hydrogen based solutions including within the fleet rail aviation and maritime sectors.<br/><br/>Our latest ‘Future of Energy’ series explores the opportunity for green fuelled hydrogen transport. We look at each industry in detail the barriers to uptake market conditions and look at how the transport industry could adapt and develop to embrace a net-zero future.

The H21 Leeds City Gate project is a study with the aim of determining the feasibility from both a technical and economic viewpoint of converting the existing natural gas network in Leeds one of the largest UK cities to 100% hydrogen. The project has been designed to minimise disruption for existing customers and to deliver heat at the same cost as current natural gas to customers. The project has shown that:

• The gas network has the correct capacity for such a conversion
• It can be converted incrementally with minimal disruption to customers
• Minimal new energy infrastructure will be required compared to alternatives
• The existing heat demand for Leeds can be met via steam methane reforming and salt cavern storage using technology in use around the world today

The project has provided costs for the scheme and has modelled these costs in a regulatory finance model. In addition the availability of low-cost bulk hydrogen in a gas network could revolutionise the potential for hydrogen vehicles and via fuel cells support a decentralised model of combined heat and power and localised power generation.

This report and any attachment is freely available on the ENA Smarter Networks Portal here. IGEM Members can download the report and any attachment directly by clicking on the pdf icon above.

Biofuels from biomass gasification are reviewed here and demonstrated to be an attractive option. Recent progress in gasification techniques and key generation pathways for biofuels production process design and integration and socio-environmental impacts of biofuel generation are discussed with the goal of investigating gasification-to-biofuels’ credentials as a sustainable and eco-friendly technology. The synthesis of important biofuels such as bio-methanol bio-ethanol and higher alcohols bio-dimethyl ether Fischer Tropsch fuels bio-methane bio-hydrogen and algae-based fuels is reviewed together with recent technologies catalysts and reactors. Significant thermodynamic studies for each biofuel are also examined. Syngas cleaning is demonstrated to be a critical issue for biofuel production and innovative pathways such as those employed by Choren Industrietechnik Germany and BioMCN the Netherlands are shown to allow efficient methanol generation. The conversion of syngas to FT transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel over Co or Fe catalysts is reviewed and demonstrated to be a promising option for the future of biofuels. Bio-methane has emerged as a lucrative alternative for conventional transportation fuel with all the advantages of natural gas including a dense distribution trade and supply network. Routes to produce H2 are discussed though critical issues such as storage expensive production routes with low efficiencies remain. Algae-based fuels are in the research and development stage but are shown to have immense potential to become commercially important because of their capability to fix large amounts of CO₂ to rapidly grow in many environments and versatile end uses. However suitable process configurations resulting in optimal plant designs are crucial so detailed process integration is a powerful tool to optimize current and develop new processes. LCA and ethical issues are also discussed in brief. It is clear that the use of food crops as opposed to food wastes represents an area fraught with challenges which must be resolved on a case by case basis.

Our new independent report finds that hydrogen can play an important role in UK’s ambitious decarbonisation plan and boost its global industrial competitiveness.

Key insights from this new analysis include:

• New independent report from Aurora Energy Research shows that hydrogen can meet up to half of Great Britain’s (GB) final energy demand by 2050 providing an important pathway to reaching UK’s ambitious Net Zero targets.
• The report concludes that both blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas after reforming to remove carbon content) and green hydrogen (produced by using power to electrolyse water) are expected to play an important role providing up to 480TWh of hydrogen or c.45% of GB’s final energy demand by 2050.
• All Net Zero scenarios require substantial growth in low-carbon generation such as renewables and nuclear. Large-scale hydrogen adoption could help to integrate renewables into the power system by reducing the power sector requirement for flexibility during peak winter months and boosting revenues for clean power generators by c. £3bn per year by 2050.
• The rollout of hydrogen could accelerate green growth and enable the development of globally competitive low-carbon industrial clusters while utilising UK’s competitive advantage on carbon capture.
• In facilitating the identification of a cost-effective hydrogen pathway there are some low-regret options for Government to explore including the stimulation of hydrogen demand in key sectors the deployment of CCS in strategic locations and the standardisation of networks. These initiatives could form an important part of the UK Government’s post-COVID stimulus plan.

Read the full report on Aurora Energy Research Website