Hydrogen production from the East Coast Cluster can start to be connected to other parts of the country after 2028, according to a feasibility report for East Coast Hydrogen, a proposed hydrogen gas network for the north of England.

Following the announcement of the East Coast Cluster and Hynet as ‘track one’ carbon capture and storage (CCS) clusters to be established by the mid-2020s, East Coast Hydrogen aims to connect hydrogen supply from these clusters with other supply points—such as the East Midlands Hydrogen Innovation Zone—and distribute the gas across the north of the country.

The network—a collaboration between UK gas distributors Northern Gas Networks, Cadent and National Grid—will supply up to 4.4mn homes, consistent with the number of hydrogen-heated homes in the UK Net Zero Strategy’s high-hydrogen scenario, and 39,000 commercial and industrial sites by 2037.

East Coast Hydrogen will start pre-Feed assessment in the first quarter next year and plans for its Feed study to take place in tandem with development of East Coast Cluster CCS infrastructure between 2022-26.

2026 – Decision date for decarbonised heating policy

“We will likely see [low-carbon] hydrogen start to be produced by the mid-2020s,” says Cadent CEO Steve Fraser.

The network will initially focus on supplying industrial hubs in Teesside and Humberside before expanding into the Midlands and urban centres between 2028 and 2037.

“This is not a project—it is an endeavour,” says Jon Butterworth, CEO of National Grid Gas Transmission and Metering, likening the scale of planning and partnerships to the building of the UK canal system.

Hydrogen conversion

The UK government is considering converting existing gas infrastructure to hydrogen, with policy mandating all new boilers to be hydrogen-ready to be decided by 2026.

“We cannot wait for heat policy to be decided to start planning out these networks,” Angela Needle, Cadent’s director of strategy and vice-president of recently launched industry association Hydrogen UK, tells Hydrogen Economist. She notes that industrial users are likely to act as initial anchor customers for the nascent hydrogen industry.

“Appropriate regulation and incentives will be key [for hydrogen],” says Greg Hands, UK energy minister. The UK’s Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme will provide £100mn for green hydrogen production in an initial funding round by 2023, with a second round planned for 2024.

The government plans to support hydrogen with a contracts for difference scheme—similar to that used for offshore wind. The future cost of blue and green hydrogen in the UK could depend on whether the policy prioritises different production methods.

“We cannot wait for heat policy to be decided to start planning out these networks” Needle, Cadent

However, Needle adds that the green versus blue debate is unhelpful in the effort to build a large supply for the gas. “As a gas network, we are colour-agnostic so long as it meets the low-carbon hydrogen criteria set by the government,” she says.

In addition to its involvement in the East Coast Hydrogen initiative, Cadent is planning to bid for the UK government’s Hydrogen Village trial, which will determine the feasibility of safely and affordably running a village or town on 100pc hydrogen. Bids are due by 17 December, with the final location to be decided by spring 2022.

Converting homes to hydrogen will depend on the installation of hydrogen-ready boilers, which initially run on natural gas and can easily be retrofitted to run on hydrogen.

“According to manufacturers we have worked with, at-scale production [of hydrogen appliances] costs the same as natural gas,” Needle says.

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Author: Polly Martin