Rule out hydrogen for home heating, NIC urges

The government should dismiss the prospect of using hydrogen for home heating to enable an “exclusive focus” on electrification, its infrastructure advisor has recommended.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) also called for the creation of a strategic energy reserve under the control of ministers and the introduction of compulsory water metering in it latest five-yearly National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA).

In a blunt assessment of the pathways to clean heating, the report says: “Taking a clear decision that electrification is the only viable option for decarbonising buildings at scale”. It goes on to conclude there is “no public policy case” for hydrogen to be used to heat individual buildings.

It adds that hydrogen heating will not be available in time to make a material contribution to the Sixth Carbon Budget emissions reduction target, which covers the mid-2030s and that converting existing gas networks will require a lengthy programme of area-by-area switching.

The NIC cites sufficient production capability as the other “critical barrier” to hydrogen’s use at scale ahead of the mid-2030s. The volume of green hydrogen produced via electrolysis will be limited by competing demands for the available electricity, while production through reforming natural gas requires a carbon capture and storage (CCS) network that is not yet in place, it adds. The commission also points out that it takes five to six times more electricity to produce hydrogen than using it directly in heat pumps. According to an analysis carried out by the NIC, a heating system with hydrogen will be 1.2 times more expensive than one without.

The hydrogen comments are the strongest so far by the NIC, which has previously gone no further than urging the government to speed up its timetable for deciding on home heating options, which it currently says will not happen until 2026.

At the launch of the report, NIC commissioner Nick Winser said: “This green electricity we’re talking about using here is going to be gold dust in the (energy) transition and we need to use it efficiently: heat pumps are best placed to do that.”

In addition, the NIC states that alternative heat options exist for “all buildings”,  meaning that hydrogen is “not necessary” for heating.

To encourage uptake of heat pumps, the NIC calls for the devices to be installed for free in social housing and other low-income households.

The other two-thirds of households should be offered grants, which would initially be worth £7,000, to install heat pumps or connect to heat networks, alongside access to government-backed zero per cent financing to cover additional costs.

The commission estimates that its recommendations to support households to decarbonise their heating systems could involve £3 billion to £12 billion of government upfront investment per annum over the next 15 years. However, this investment will deliver cheaper bills for consumers from electrified heating over the long term and greater energy security  by reducing the UK’s reliance on gas, it says.

While ruling out the use of hydrogen in home heating, the NIC says it will have an important role in industry, unveiling a proposed pipeline network connecting the key source of production and supply across Great Britain from north Scotland to Southampton via key clusters, like Merseyside and Teesside.

Twin-track approach to drought resilience 

The NIC also urges the government to prepare for a drier future by putting plans in place to deliver additional water supply infrastructure and reduce leakage, while also reducing water demand

Without action, it says there will be a 4,000 mega litre-plus per day gap between the demand and supply of water by 2050. This equates to around 30% of the water currently put into public supply.

Both reducing demand, including leakage, and providing new water infrastructure will require “additional investment” in the PR24 price control and beyond, it says.

The report repeats a common NIC complaint that no new large reservoirs have been built in England for 30 years and notes that water infrastructure is complex to deliver.

The report says: “As an indication of how the gap might be filled, draft Water Resource Management Plans propose nine new large reservoirs, two reservoir enlargements, three large intercompany transfers, 11 water recycling schemes and nine new desalination plants.”

It adds: “There is a high risk of delay  to the delivery of these projects. Funding and delivery must start as soon as possible.”

The NIC says water companies have been hampered in their efforts to reduce demand because they are not enabled to roll out meters on a compulsory basis.

It calls on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to enable companies to  implement compulsory metering beyond water stressed areas by 2025, by amending regulations and requiring all companies to “systematically roll out  smart meters as a first step in a concerted campaign to reduce water demand to 110  litres per person per day and to reduce non-household usage by 15% by 2050”.

It also points to further measures that could be taken, including flexible tariffs and education campaigns to help consumers understand their own consumption and the effect of water abstraction on the environment.

Strategic energy reserve

The report also recommends the establishment of a strategic energy reserve, which should initially house gas and later hydrogen,

The reserve, which would be controlled by ministers, could be used to release energy into the market to generate electricity and  mitigate price shocks, such as during periods of low renewable generation.

The report’s other recommendations include a call for the government to phase out unabated gas fired generation so that it generates less than 2% of electricity by 2035. This should be backed up by a ban on unabated gas power stations from the wholesale, balancing and capacity markets by 2040 ‘at the latest’.

The NIC says that by this point, only the independent systems operator should be allowed to turn on unabated gas power stations ‘in extremis’ to ensure security of supply, like it did last winter with the UK’s remaining coal powered stations.

The NIC’s chair Sir John Armitt, writes in the NIA’s foreword that “we stand at a pivotal moment in time, with the opportunity to make a major difference to this country’s future. But we need to get on with it”.