Blending – the next big chapter in the UK’s hydrogen story

If hydrogen is to fulfil its potential as a driver of decarbonisation then large-scale production projects need to kick off in the next few years. According to Gas Goes Green Champion, and former Cadent chief executive, Chris Train, the first step should be to start the process of allowing gas networks to blend hydrogen into the grid.

It goes without saying that if we as a country are serious about building the kind of hydrogen economy that delivers all the benefits we want see, then we need to ensure that we’re producing enough of that hydrogen to do be able that.

But if it is to have the major role that the Committee on Climate Change says it needs to have for us to reach our net-zero emissions target, then we need to get our skates on. In fact, the first large-scale hydrogen production projects need to be getting off the ground in the new few years.

Yet at this point, despite much hard and increasingly detailed work that is now underway across not only industry but also in the corridors of power – and even the prime minister’s own increasingly supportive rhetoric – there are no policies in place to ensure that is the case.

That is something that we should be concerned about.

Almost all the technologies we will need to reach net zero will require policy support in the early stages of their development. Offshore wind farms had been well-supported by subsidies for a number of years before the decision was made to focus on putting the technology front and centre of the UK’s transformation into a superpower of renewable energy.

The good news is that there is one thing that the government can and should do right away, that doesn’t come with a large price tag attached to it but will quickly create demand for that hydrogen, helping stimulate its production.

And that’s to start the process of allowing gas networks to blend up to 20 per cent hydrogen into Britain’s extensive and world leading gas grid, a move that could save the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of 2.5 million cars.

The good news is we’ve now got a clear plan of just how to do that, thanks to a major new report by Frontier Economics, commissioned by Cadent and recently published though ENA’s Gas Goes Green programme.

This report builds on the major progress that has been made in recent years in important technical and safety research through joint gas network innovation projects such as HyDeploy at Keele University or H21 in Leeds, setting out three areas for action.

First, are the steps that the government, Ofgem, regulators and the industry need to take to turn blending into a reality, including a government target date for the connection of the first hydrogen production plant to the gas grid to help get projects off the ground, changing regulations to ensure that people’s energy bills are calculated accurately when using different types of gas and making hydrogen blending a funding priority for the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund.

Second, are the technical changes need to take place to the way that Britain’s gas networks work to enable hydrogen blending. These include deciding on the mechanism that gas networks will use to keep the blend of hydrogen in the grid within agreed limits and ensuring that there is a level playing field for hydrogen production plant connections.

Third, is the need for a clear, phased “roadmap” that will both enable early hydrogen producers to connect to gas networks and establish a clear, standardised framework as easily as possible, as the market for hydrogen production grows, delivered through industry-wide programmes such as Gas Goes Green.

All this work has to form part of a wider, strategic approach to the way we build a hydrogen economy here in the UK. Whilst our world-leading technical and safety hydrogen trials have been progressing well, we should not lose sight of the other changes that have to take place to turn blending into a reality.

For politicians, policymakers and regulators, that means not just focussing on how we produce enough hydrogen or how it can be used in all manner of exciting technologies. It means also focussing on the important role that gas networks can play in terms of lowering barriers to entry for hydrogen technologies and producers, driving down the costs of hydrogen transportation to those people who will use it and creating a demand base through blending, as part of the pathway to creating the world’s first zero carbon gas grid.

If they do that, then those decision makers can well and truly kick-start the hydrogen revolution that we all need to play our part in tackling the climate emergency.