Metering incompatibility ‘overlooked’ in hydrogen rush

The incompatibility of gas smart meters with hydrogen, which is not a “panacea” for the transition to net zero, has been ‘overlooked’, a committee of MPs has warned.

In a new report on the role that hydrogen can play in meeting the UK’s 2050 decarbonisation goal, the House of Commons science and technology committee highlights concerns that the current generation of gas smart meters are “unlikely to be compatible” with hydrogen.

This is because they are designed to measure natural gas, which flows at “much lower” volumes than hydrogen to deliver the equivalent amount of energy.

As a result, the committee says, larger volume capacity meters or alternatives that measure mass flow, may be required.

However, it says Ofgem was not able to tell the committee whether the current roll-out of smart meters will prove “ineffective” if hydrogen is metered.

The issue of domestic metering has been “overlooked” concludes the committee, adding its concern that “Ofgem is not fulfilling its specified remit of protecting the consumer”.

The committee recommends an urgent project on hydrogen metering needs to be completed by the beginning of 2024 to underpin the government’s decisions on the role the fuel should play in domestic heating.

This exercise should include an assessment of whether and when the current generation of gas smart meters need to be adapted or replaced; the technology that could and should be used in new meters to accommodate different fuels and the likely costs of domestic metering under the various scenarios.

The report also says the role hydrogen can play in domestic heating is likely to be “limited rather than widespread”.

“We are unconvinced its deployment will prove to be economically viable by the time the government has said it will determine the role of hydrogen boilers, in 2026.”

The report also warns it would be “unwise to assume” that hydrogen can make a “very large contribution” to reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions in the short to medium-term because its production requires “significant advances” in the economic deployment of CCS (carbon capture and storage) and the development of renewable-to-hydrogen electrolytic capacity.

The report says the rapid expansion of renewable energy provides “important possibilities” for  future mass production of green hydrogen but there remains “unmet” need for renewable-sourced electricity to contribute directly to power supplies.

The committee recommends that the government should see hydrogen playing a “limited—rather than universal” role in the energy system.

As an example, the committee says it disagrees with the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation that the government should mandate new domestic boilers to be hydrogen-ready from 2025. The government has announced last week that it is considering a mandate for all gas boilers to be hydrogen-ready by the following year.

“Hydrogen will have its place in this portfolio. But we do not believe that it will be the panacea to our problems that might sometimes be inferred from the hopes placed on.”

Instead, the committee sees hydrogen playing “specific but limited” roles across a variety of sectors to decarbonise where other technologies— such as electrification and heat pumps—are not possible, practical, or economic.

The report also says the government’s decision to pursue so called ‘blue’ hydrogen, extracted from natural gas with CO₂ captured and stored, should depend on the meeting targets for the rate greenhouse gas emissions are captured through the process.

The committee’s chair Greg Clark MP said: “There are significant infrastructure challenges associated with converting our energy networks to use hydrogen and uncertainty about when low-carbon hydrogen can be produced at scale at an economical cost.

“But there are important applications for hydrogen in particular industries so it can be, in the words of one witness to our inquiry, “a big niche”.

“We welcome the government’s high-level strategy and support of hydrogen trials, but future decisions on the role of hydrogen must increasingly be practical, taking into account what is technically and economically achievable. We call on the government to set out a series of decision points, which would give industry the clarity that it needs.”

Responding to the report, Energy and Climate Intelligence head of international programme Gareth Redmond-King said: “Green hydrogen has a big role to play in our net zero future for stuff with no easy alternatives, like industry, heavy vehicles, and shipping. Less expensive, more efficient clean solutions already exist for things like heating our homes. If we want to cut emissions and bills quickly, evidence points to heat pumps – three to five times more efficient than burning gas, without producing air pollution.”