Projects & Initiatives

The highlights of the report include:

• East Coast Hydrogen has the potential to connect up to 7GW of hydrogen production by 2030 alone exceeding the UK Government’s 5GW by 2030 target in a single project. It represents an unmissable opportunity for government and the private sector to work together in delivering on our ambitious decarbonisation targets.
• East Coast Hydrogen can use the natural assets of the North of England including existing and potential hydrogen storage facilities and build on the hydrogen production in two of the UK’s largest industrial clusters in the North East and North West in turn ensuring significant private sector investment in the UK’s industrial heartlands.
• This would be the first step in the conversion of our national gas grid to hydrogen and will act as a blueprint for subsequent conversions across the UK.
• The project will also demonstrate the innovation engineering capabilities and economic opportunity in the North and create tens of thousands of highly skilled Green jobs in the future hydrogen economy."

Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom is a two-year project exploring what a decarbonised smart local energy system could look like for Milford Haven Pembroke and Pembroke Dock.

The project explores the potential of hydrogen as part of a multi-vector approach to decarbonisation. Central to the project and to achieving Net Zero is a commitment to engage with the community and local industry providing insight and opportunities for growth.

The ambition is to gather detailed insight into the whole energy system around Milford Haven to identify and design a future smart local energy system based on a truly multi-vector approach and comprehensive energy systems architecture.

The transition to Net Zero requires action across the economy. As the UK’s largest energy port Milford Haven is an industrial cluster that can handle 30% of total UK gas demand is home to Europe’s largest gas power station powering 3.5 million homes and businesses has ambitions to build 90MW of floating offshore wind supports 5000 jobs and injects £324m to the Pembrokeshire economy.

This work describes the outcomes of the effort to define designs of future energy system architectures combining; technology the interconnectivity between them and data; with markets trading platforms and policies; with business models and defined organisational governance. The aim of these designs is to provide:

• The basis for a roadmap for the next phases of development and implementation
• Confidence to innovators and investors in the future longevity of investments in hydrogen and
• A common basis of understanding for all stakeholders wishing to contribute to the Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom.

The Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) and the Birmingham Energy Institute have launched a policy commission to examine the state of play barriers challenges and opportunities for Energy from Waste (EfW) to form part of the regional energy circular economy in the Midlands. This policy commission explores the case for regional investment whilst helping shape the regional local government and industry thinking surrounding critical issues such as fuel poverty and poor air quality.

The Challenge

Tackling climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. To follow the path for limiting global warming below 2^ᵒC set out in the 2015 Paris agreement requires significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The UK has committed to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 requiring action at a local regional and national level to transition to a zero carbon economy.

To decarbonise and decentralise the UK’s energy system we must implement technologies that provide energy supply solutions across the UK.

In the Midlands many industrial sites are unable to access supply of affordable clean and reliable energy to meet their demands.

Energy from Waste (EfW) could offer a solution to the Midlands based industrial sites. EfW sites provide affordable secure energy supply solutions that form part of a developing circular economy. EfW reduces our reliance on landfills and obtains the maximum value from our waste streams. There are a number of merging technologies that could potentially play an important role which treats waste as a resource properly integrated into an energy and transport system and fully respects the potential of linking in the circular economy.

Investment into EfW infrastructure in the region could lead to job creation and economic growth and could help provide inward investment needed to redevelop old industrial sites and retiring power stations. However for EfW to be part of a net-zero energy system (either in transition or long-term) technologies and processes are needed that reduce the current carbon emissions burden.

EfW could play a significant role in the net zero carbon transition in the Midlands supplying heat power and green fuels and solve other problems - the region has some of the highest levels of energy/fuel poverty and poor air quality in the UK.  The policy commission will help shape the regional local government and industry thinking surrounding this important topic.

Report Recommendations

Recovery Resource Cluster

The EfW policy commission proposes three major areas where it believes that government investment would be highly beneficial

• Building a network of local and regional Resource Recovery Clusters
• Creating a National Centre for the Circular Economy
• Launching an R&D Grand Challenge to develop small-scale circular carbon capture technologies.

The Resource Recovery Clusters (RRC) will be developed on post-industrial sites which could produce significant environmental economic and regeneration benefits. The RRCs combine a spread of EfW and recycling technologies with businesses that can consume their cheap electricity heat fuels CO₂ and material outputs.

The National Centre for the Circular Economy would analyse material flows throughout the economy down to regional and local levels and develop deep expertise in recycling and EfW technologies. The CCE would also provide expert guidance and support for local authorities as they develop local or regional strategies and planning frameworks.

The R&D Grand Challenge aims to make big advances in small-scale carbon capture technologies in order to turn 100% of CO₂ produced through the process of converting waste to energy into useful products. This is very important for areas such as the Midlands which are remoted from depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

The Hy4Heat Safety Assessment has focused on assessing the safe use of hydrogen gas in certain types of domestic properties and buildings. The summary reports (the Precis and the Safety Assessment Conclusions Report) bring together all the findings of the work and should be looked to for context by all readers. The technical reports should be read in conjunction with the summary reports. While the summary reports are made as accessible as possible for general readers the technical reports may be most accessible for readers with a degree of technical subject matter understanding. All of the safety assessment reports have now been reviewed by the HSE.<br/><br/>This document is an overview of the Safety Assessment work undertaken as part of the Hy4Heat programme

The IEA produced this dataset as part of efforts to track advances in low-carbon hydrogen technology. It covers all projects commissioned worldwide since 2000 to produce hydrogen for energy or climate-change-mitigation purposes. It includes projects which their objective is either to reduce emissions associated with producing hydrogen for existing applications or to use hydrogen as an energy carrier or industrial feedstock in new applications that have the potential to be a low-carbon technology. Projects in planning or construction are also covered.

Link to Download Database from IEA Website

The assessment of appropriate operational procedures to govern the injection of a hydrogen/natural gas blend into Northern Gas Networks’ (NGN) Winlaton gas distribution network was a key requirement of the HyDeploy2 project. To perform this assessment the review was broken down into two areas procedures upstream of the emergency control valve (owned by NGN) and procedures downstream of the Emergency Control Valve (procedures which would be performed by Gas Safe registered individuals). Assessment of the upstream procedures was led by NGN (own and carry out all upstream procedures on NGN’s gas network) and assessment of the downstream procedures was led by Blue Flame Associates (an industry expert on downstream gas procedures).<br/>Methodologies were adopted to be able to highlight procedures that could potentially be used on the Winlaton trial network during the hydrogen blended gas injection period and if they were impacted by the changing of the gas within the network from natural gas to hydrogen blended gas. This method determined that for downstream gas procedures a total of 56 gas procedures required expert review resulting in 80 technical questions to be assessed and for the upstream gas procedures a total of 80 gas procedures required expert review resulting in 266 technical questions to be assessed.<br/>The operational procedures assessment has led to a determination as to whether a change is or is not required for relevant operational procedures where a basis of concern existed with respect to the injection of hydrogen blended gas. Any requirements to modify an existing procedure has been given in this report referencing the source as to where the detailed analysis for the change/no change recommendation has been given.<br/>The assessment took into account the associated experimental and research carried out as part of the HyDeploy and HyDeploy2 projects such as the assessment of gas characteristics materials impact appliance survey of assets on the Winlaton network and impact of hydrogen blended gas on gas detection equipment references to these studies have been given accordingly to associated impacted operational procedures.<br/>The conclusion of the assessment is that for upstream gas procedures there are some operational procedures that are unchanged some that require an increase in the frequency as to how often they are performed and some procedures which require a technical modification. For downstream domestic gas procedures all procedures applicable to a domestic gas installation were deemed to not be detrimentally affected by the introduction of a 20 mol% hydrogen blend.<br/>For upstream gas procedures an appropriate training package will be built off the back of the results presented in this report and disseminated accordingly to all relevant Operatives that will be responsible for the safety operation and maintenance of the Winlaton network during the hydrogen blend injection period. For downstream gas procedures the Gas Safe community have been fully engaged and informed about the trial.<br/>Click on the supplements tab to view the other documents from this report

The application of appropriate procedures in the downstream gas industry (defined as any works downstream of the emergency control value) is critical in protecting consumers of gas both domestic and commercial. The two primary standard setting bodies for the downstream gas industry are the British Standard Institution (BSI) and the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM). To ensure only competent engineers carry out works on a gas installation all gas businesses or selfemployed persons must become a member of Gas Safe Register as stipulated by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 1 and each gas operative shall be included on the register and hold a valid license card that covers the areas of gas work they undertake. Membership of the Gas Safe Register is contingent upon demonstration of competency the recognised competency assessments are based on the relevant BSI and IGEM standards. Therefore the primary source of a gas operative’s competency to work on natural gas installations are the associated BSI and IGEM natural gas downstream standards.<br/>Investigation was undertaken to understand the potential implications of introducing 20 mol% hydrogen (H2) within natural gas supplies on the ability of gas operatives to competently carry out works. This investigation took the form of identifying all BSI and IGEM standards that could be applied on natural gas installations and reviewing them within the context of the known effects of introducing a 20 mol% H2 blend. Following review a series of technical questions were generated and responded to by the Health and Safety Executive Science Division. The responses provided were then reviewed and if considered necessary challenged to provide further information. The procedural review was led by Blue Flame Associates a body deemed sufficiently competent in downstream standards training certification and investigation. The report was subsequently reviewed by industry and feedback received. The industry comments were reviewed by the Project Team and where considered necessary the report was updated.

The H21 Phase 2 research will provide vital evidence both towards the hydrogen village trial and potential town scale pilots and to the Government which is aiming to make a decision about the use of hydrogen for home heating by 2026.

The key objectives of the H21 Phase 2 NIC project were to further develop the evidence base supporting conversion of the natural gas distribution network to 100% hydrogen. The key principles of H21 NIC Phase 2 were to:

→ Confirm how we can manage and operate the network safely through an appraisal of existing network equipment procedures and network modelling tools.

→ Validate network operations on a purpose-built below 7 barg network as well as an existing unoccupied buried network and provide a platform to publicise and demonstrate a hydrogen network in action.

→ Develop a combined distribution network and downstream Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) for 100% hydrogen by further developing the work undertaken on the H21 Phase 1 QRA and the Hy4Heat ‘downstream of ECV’ QRA.

→ Continue to understand how consumers could be engaged with ahead of a conversion. This programme was split into four phases detailed below:

→ Phase 2a – Appraisal of Network 0-7 bar Operations

→ Phase 2b – Unoccupied Network Trials

→ Phase 2c – Combined QRA

→ Phase 2d – Social Sciences

The project with the support of the HSE’s Science & Research Centre (HSE S&RC) and DNV successfully undertook a programme of work to review the NGN below 7 barg network operating procedures. The project implemented testing and demonstrations on the Phase 2a Microgrid at DNV Spadeadam and Phase 2b Unoccupied Trial site in South Bank on a repurposed NGN network to provide and demonstrate the supporting evidence for the required changes to procedures. Details of the outputs of the HSE S&RC procedure review and the evidence collected by DNV from the testing and demonstration projects is provided in detail in this technical summary report.

Due to the differences in gas characteristics between hydrogen and natural gas changes will be required to some of the operational and maintenance procedures the evidence of which is provided in this report. The Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs) will need to review the findings from this project when implementing the required changes to their operational and maintenance procedures.

This 2nd deliverable from WP4 gives an overview of relevant existing certification experience on-going standardization activities and field trials in the European Union and other countries regarding gas appliances using H2NG. It gives a picture of the today’s situation as many of the identified initiatives are ongoing and progressing continuously.

As a part of its knowledge management activities the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking 2 (FCH 2 JU) has commissioned the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to perform a series of historical analyses by topic area to assess the impact of funded projects and the progression of its current Multi-Annual Work Plan (MAWP; 2014- 2020) towards its objectives. These historical analyses consider all relevant funded projects since the programme’s inception in 2008. This report considers the performance of projects against the overall FCH 2 JU programme targets for stationary Fuel Cells (FCs) using quantitative values of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for assessment. The purpose of this exercise is to see whether and how the programme has enhanced the state of the art for stationary fuel cells and to identify potential Research & Innovation (R&I) gaps for the future. Therefore the report includes a review of the current State of the Art (SoA) of fuel cell technologies used in the stationary applications sector. The programme has defined KPIs for three different power output ranges and equivalent applications: (i) micro-scale Combined Heat and Power (mCHP) for single family homes and small buildings (0.3 - 5 kW); (ii) mid-sized installations for commercial and larger buildings (5 - 400 kW); (iii) large scale FC installations converting hydrogen and renewable methane into power in various applications (0.4 - 30 MW). Projects addressing stationary applications in these particular power ranges were identified and values for the achieved KPIs extracted from relevant sources of information such as final reports and the TRUST database (Technology Reporting Using Structured Templates). As much of this data is confidential a broad analysis of performance of the programme against its KPIs has been performed without disclosing confidential information. The results of this analysis are summarised within this report. The information obtained from this study will be used to suggest future modifications to the research programme and associated targets.