Kwarteng backs smart meter rollout despite hydrogen concerns

It “doesn’t make sense” to stop the rollout of the smart meter programme even though the devices are not compatible with hydrogen heating systems, Kwasi Kwarteng has said.

The secretary of state for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) was quizzed yesterday (21 July) by Greg Clark, chairman of the House of Commons science and technology committee, about evidence it has received that the current generation of SMETS2 meters do not work with hydrogen.

The higher molecular density of natural gas compared to hydrogen means that a meter set up to measure the first will not accurately track consumption of the latter, Kwarteng said: “Methane and hydrogen are very different and you wouldn’t expect meters to track both.”

He was backed up by the BEIS departments’ chief scientific adviser, Professor Paul Monks, who said the two gases are “obviously very different”.

“When you look at densities, it is no surprise that we have to change the meters because of the changed properties of the gas. I wouldn’t expect a meter made for methane to work for gas.”

Kwarteng said prototype meters are being developed that that can be adapted to hydrogen.

But the savings most households would achieve due to installing a smart meter mean that it is worthwhile to continue installing them, particularly given that it is uncertain how big a share of the UK’s homes will be heated by hydrogen, he said: “It doesn’t make sense to stop the rollout.”

Mark Neller, energy business leader at engineers Arup which is currently involved in the government-run hydrogen heating trials, said he “fully expects” to see hydrogen compliant SMETS2 meters within the next two months.

And he said it is “highly likely” that it will be possible to recalibrate meters to monitor for hydrogen rather than methane.

Kwarteng said there is “real potential” for hydrogen to be “very useful” in domestic heating, adding that it could be blended into the gas distribution system within eight years.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, told the same hearing that hydrogen should be prioritised on the “hardest to decarbonise” sectors, such as industry and heavy goods transport.

The use of hydrogen in domestic heating should depend on the efficiency of heat pumps and whether hydrogen can be run through the gas mains, he said.

Neller said the blending of hydrogen in the gas grid is an “absolutely essential component” to getting final investment decisions on major projects for producing blue hydrogen in industrial clusters.