Future Energy Networks

This project focuses on ensuring accurate volume conversion within gas metering processes, as hydrogen is blended into the natural gas network across Great Britain. Accurate measurement is essential for fair billing and maintaining customer trust during the energy transition. The project will study real world metering installations, assess potential errors caused by hydrogen blending, and develop practical mitigation strategies. Findings will inform updates to industry guidance (IGEM/GM/5), supporting regulatory compliance and operational integrity.

This project investigates the risk of air ingress in medium to large commercial gas installations, particularly in the context of hydrogen transition. It builds on previous domestic-focused research and aims to understand whether similar risks and mitigation strategies apply to commercial systems. The project includes technical and behavioural assessments, experimental testing, analytical modelling, and the identification of mitigation measures.

As the owner of the National Transmission System (NTS), National Gas is committed to responsibly managing our redundant assets in a manner that contributes to a sustainable, lower-carbon future by decommissioning them responsibly, refurbishing for re-use where viable, and/or or changing their purpose where possible. This discovery project will identify decommissioned elements of redundant pipework on the transmission system which are unlikely to be used for refurbishment or part of any wider repurposing of the core network, and explore the potential of repurposing these for alternative uses including the storage and/or transmission of electrical energy, heat, fuels, water and data.

Wales & West Utilities has developed a Regional Decarbonisation Pathway to provide an overarching strategic plan for the network in Wales and the South West of England. To deliver that pathway, more detailed assessment and planning is required to facilitate the progression of opportunities in particular areas.

In 2023, WWU supported Cadent as the lead partner in the development and delivery of a Functional Blending Specification (FBS) which has progressed the technical understanding of how blending equipment can be practically applied within the context of existing gas network assets (https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA_CAD0079/). In 2023, UK Government affirmed their support for network blending whilst networks have continued to develop evidence in support of blending since (Hydrogen blending in GB distribution networks: strategic decision - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

Following completion of Phase 2 of the H21 Hydrogen Ready Components project, this project will look to extend the methodology developed under this project to encompass the assessment of assets operating above 7 barg. The assessment tool will be incorporated into the LTS Futures blueprint methodology for repurposing existing Natural Gas transmission assets to hydrogen. The scope will include transmission assets above 7 barg and up to the maximum transmission pressure of 94 barg and will focus on the conversion to 100% hydrogen. Assets in scope will cover both above and below ground assets, and include bends, valves, regulators, slam shuts, relief valves, and pig traps. Assets excluded include pipelines, compressors and cast iron components.

The project will evaluate and deliver a plan that ensures our asset records are suitably complete to support the net zero transition.

The project will reduce uncertainty and risk and provide a more realistic proximation of asset data.

The HSE has indicated that it will be unable to support a network’s hydrogen safety case until they receive “a clear plan for checking unknown assets and how networks will ensure that only suitable materials are present in the network”. This includes our transmission pipelines.

Additionally, for the marginal extra effort, it would be prudent to ensure the completeness of our asset records is sufficient for us to either plan for the conversion to hydrogen or decommission sections as users switch to other heating technologies.

Augmented Reality (AR) technology will be used at Futures Close to convey and inform various audiences including vulnerable consumers about various property archetypes, their construction, heat loss, and the type of retrofit solutions (heating systems, controls, fabric improvements) available to improve the level of domestic energy efficiency. AR will be used to inform, educate and engage audiences on-site at Futures Close as well as off-site at conferences and meetings avoiding the need to facilitate multiple visits on site. Live data feeds will also be visualised, illustrating room-by-room temperature, humidity as well as other metrics providing an engaging, interactive and informative asset for Futures Close.

To achieve decarbonisation targets all gas network operators in the UK need to demonstrate that the gas network can safely, technically and economically facilitate the distribution of low-carbon gases (biomethane and hydrogen). In response to this challenge, SGN aim to review the feasibility of the formation of biomethane islands in their Scotland area of operation. The outputs of this project will establish a business model for the optimisation of biomethane injection and formation of biomethane islands across the UK’s gas network. A feasibility study will address key areas including regulatory, technical, environmental, social, and commercial aspects as well as comprehensively assess the viability of developing Biomethane Islands. The outcome of the feasibility study will be to inform decision-making regarding project implementation. This will be captured and delivered in a comprehensive report and financial model of the business case. These islands will serve as models for sustainable living, demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of a circular economy approach to energy production and waste management and offer a low disruption option for the decarbonisation of all classes of gas consumers - Industrial, Commercial, and Domestic.

The conversion of the National Transmission System into a hydrogen transmission network has been widely discussed, and it is recognised that blending of hydrogen and natural gas in the network is an important intermediary step towards that goal. It is therefore important to understand how the NTS will operate with a mix of natural gas and variable blends up to 20% hydrogen.

The Blending Management Approach (BMA) Phase 2 project will explore the operational, safety, and strategic implications of introducing low-level hydrogen blends into the National Transmission System (NTS), with a particular focus on storage interactions, emergency response scenarios, and long-term network management strategies. This phase aims to deepen understanding of how hydrogen blends interact with existing infrastructure and protocols.

The UK and Irish gas networks are undergoing a major transition to support the integration of green gases, including biomethane and hydrogen. A significant challenge is the inability of the current gas billing infrastructure, based on flow-weighted average calorific value (CV) measurements taken at National Transmission System (NTS) offtakes, to accurately reflect the gas composition received by consumers—particularly with the increasing number of decentralised injection points. This discrepancy presents a technical and regulatory hurdle to achieving fair and transparent billing.

This programme is leveraging 3 suppliers to develop a range of novel calorific value sensors that will enable calorific value to be accurately measured at different points on the network without the need for venting.

The programme comprises of 3 individual projects, which will develop each suppliers’ technology up to a sufficiently high TRL where the sensors are ready to be trialled in the field. Each supplier will be delivering their own scope of work, but will be expected to share a reasonable amount of information with each other in order to ensure maximum value is obtained from this programme. The innovators will not be expected to disclose any information that could provide them with a competitive advantage over the other solutions

As the UK transitions to a low-carbon energy future, gas networks must consider how strategic utilisation of existing assets can be realised. GDNs must also consider adjacent markets such as CCUS and its role in the supply chain now and in the future. The project will take a pragmatic approach to provide SGN with an assessment of the role of the gas network in the growing UK CCUS market

Clean Power 2030 (CP2030) aims for a fully decarbonised electricity system, using unabated gas, only as backup. This introduces an important challenge: how can the gas transmission network remain viable and deliver flexibility during extreme demand events, despite not being utilised most of the time? This project aims to understand how to sustain the gas network technically and economically in a low average, high peak demand future, focusing on the interaction between gas and electricity systems.

Decarbonisation of UK transport, and the related Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires companies to transition their commercial vehicle fleets to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) or alternative new emerging technologies (e.g. FCEC). As an operational utility network with responsibility for public safety WWU’s fleet undergoes a more challenging and varied range of duty cycles than most commercial fleets, includes vehicles that are required to provide on-site power, and must be capable of meeting WWU’s statutory duty to respond quickly to Public Reported Escapes.

Within this challenging operational context, WWU must deliver a fleet transition at the lowest feasible cost to assure value for money for our customers. This is further complicated by the need to plan the fleet transition while the associated technological and policy landscape continues to evolve in parallel. Although the learnings generated from the project will be specific to WWU’s fleet as a case study, they will be applicable to any networks with an operational fleet.

To assure a cost-effective transition and derisk future operations, WWU require a Total Cost of Operation (TCO) model. This will be specifically targeted at our particular operational context, capable of assessing the costs and capabilities of a range of ZEV options, and crucially must be easy for staff to adopt for internal use and update in the future as new data and/or technologies become available.

The purpose of this project is to provide WWU with a TCO model that addresses our specific operational requirements, ensuring that plans and investment decisions will be grounded in real-world technology assessments and our operational fleet data.

Early cluster projects will not benefit I&C customers that are located away from industrial clusters and are traditionally more distributed in nature. These customers are unlikely to have access to hydrogen infrastructure developed through the primary industrial clusters. This presents the need for an alternative solution.

This project will explore the concept of how a larger number of low-volume hydrogen producers can support I&C customers in the absence of natural ‘clustering’ and high-volume production by using the South West region of WWU’s network as a case study. This will be done by exploring the whole systems concept of a gas network which is driven by distributed green hydrogen production at strategic locations where there is access to both gas and electricity grid infrastructure.

This project involves a comprehensive set of tasks aimed at implementing and validating a domestic safety system for hydrogen use, including excess flow valves.

Hydrogen design codes require fracture mechanics based design and qualification for high stress service. Procurement of a number of Long Lead Items (LLI) is required to construct, commission and operate hydrogen networks. A number of these LLIs, including induction bends and barred tees, remain at a low technical readiness.

This project will carry out fracture toughness testing in a hydrogen environment to increase the technical readiness, support the supply chain and achieve operational schedules.

As the Gas Transmission network responds to a changing energy system, from drivers including the transition to net zero and to changes in supply and demand, we are required to decommission our large site based assets in certain locations. Decommissioning is a multifaceted endeavour that goes beyond the conclusion of an asset’s lifespan and encompasses a complex deconstruction process. This project will implement an innovative AI tool to help National Gas manage decommissioning to drive benefits such as increasing the accuracy of cost estimation, ways to reduce carbon emissions, identify re-use potential and lower the overall time taken to decommission.

UK’s Net Zero Emissions Target and the Role of Hydrogen: The UK has committed to a legally binding net zero emissions target by 2050. Achieving this target necessitates the integration of hydrogen, particularly in hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications and peaking power generation. The recent publication of the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget highlights hydrogen’s significant role within the electricity supply sector. Hydrogen is identified as a crucial source of long-term storable energy that can be dispatched as needed and as a feedstock for synthetic fuels. For hydrogen to fully contribute to a future hydrogen system, its production, storage, and transportation must be considered collectively.

East Coast Hydrogen (ECH) Project: In recent years, Cadent, in partnership with National Gas and Northern Gas Networks (NGN), has developed the East Coast Hydrogen (ECH) Project. The ECH project aims to decarbonize primarily industry and power sectors. As part of this initiative, Cadent has developed the East Midlands Hydrogen Pipeline (EMHP), which aims to connect hydrogen production at Uniper’s Ratcliffe on Soar site to major industrial and power off-takers in the East Midlands. The project seeks to transport hydrogen to major population centres, including Nottingham, Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Derby, and Burton upon Trent. During the development of the EMHP, it became evident that hydrogen storage plays a critical role in establishing a resilient and efficient hydrogen system. Consequently, a consortium was formed to explore the feasibility of storage, leading to the East Midlands Storage Project (EMSTOR).

Discovery Phase of EMSTOR: During the Discovery Phase, EMSTOR evaluated various technologies for large-scale hydrogen storage in the East Midlands. The technologies considered included lined rock caverns, lined rock shafts, silos, and geological storage options such as aquifers and disused hydrocarbon fields. After comparing these technologies against several technical parameters, including Technology Readiness Level (TRL), cost, size, and location relative to pipelines, it was determined that hydrogen storage in geological fields, particularly disused hydrocarbon fields, is the most viable option. Therefore, disused hydrocarbon fields in geological formations were selected for further consideration in the Alpha Phase.

Alpha Phase Consortium: To execute the Alpha Phase, a consortium led by Cadent and including Star Energy Ltd, Centrica Energy Storage, National Grid, British Geological Society, University of Edinburgh, and Uniper was established. This consortium will focus on advancing the feasibility and implementation of hydrogen storage in disused hydrocarbon fields.

Wales & West Utilities is undertaking a major programme of change to support decarbonisation and deliver a Net Zero gas network. The primary objective of this project is to investigate the effects of water ingress within a 100% hydrogen network and a blended hydrogen/natural gas network. The goal is to determine whether the introduction of hydrogen into the gas network could cause any additional impacts when water ingress occurs, and to compare these effects to those observed in the current natural gas network.

The UK Government recognised that domestic biomethane production can play a significant role in decarbonising energy supplies. However, biomethane production plants face technical and operational challenges. Currently the content of biomethane within biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion (AD) process is often only around 50%. This partial conversion results in lower yields for AD operators and an increase in costly gas scrubbing requirements. The increased presence of impurity gases also increases requirement for propanation to increase the calorific value, high in both cost and carbon footprint.

This project seeks to address these challenges through the injection of green hydrogen into the AD process in specific quantities and at specific times to achieve greater conversion of carbon dioxide to biomethane within the acetogenesis stage of the AD process, thereby increasing the yield whilst reducing the need for gas scrubbing and propanation.

This project will help to inform UK Gas Distribution Network Operators (GDNOs) and wider industry on the long-term suitability of existing Excess Flow Valve (EFV) designs in a future where hydrogen is being distributed in network pipelines. A risk to normal EFV functionality exists in the event that an ignition occurs within the downstream gas installation pipework and this project will help to understand the effectiveness of existing EFV designs to manage this risk, identifying any necessary modifications to existing EFV designs where appropriate.

High pressure steel pipelines are essential in enabling a safe natural gas transportation network, an overly engineered solution tried and tested over several decades, proving the NTS to be a robust nationwide asset. The National Transmission System is used to flow gas every day to keep the lights on and our homes heated by connecting large scale industry, cities and towns where the network is dynamic allowing for flexibility and adaptability to various flow demand scenarios. This is done so by utilising over 5000 miles of varying grades and differing sizes of pipelines, where the gas can flow, build line pack for high energy demand areas and provide a mass energy storage solution.

The NTS is used to limit gas loss, manage flow direction, facilitate maintenance, repair, modification, testing and commissioning to enable safe and effective start-up and shutdown of our pipelines. We now must further evidence pipeline steel material integrity when subjected to high pressure hydrogen gas, this can be done by expanding upon the existing fatigue rig standalone testing at DNV Spadeadam.

Although some pipelines materials that we use today have seen blends and 100% hydrogen within the HYNTS Phase 1 test facility, what we have not done, is post hydrogen fatigue cycling non destructive testing of materials that have been subject to prolonged high pressure hydrogen. One of the welds that make up the fatigue rig has a known weld defect within it, NGT aims to have the welds and the weld defect analysed through various methods of testing such as magnetic particle inspection followed by if necessary standard ultrasonic testing.

In 2022 small scale mechanical characteristic tests were conducted to characterise the mechanical properties of the materials used within the construction of the fatigue rig, this testing commenced outputting a standard mechanical property data set, the new end of test data post hydrogen exposure will be compared to the original data set from 2022 at the end of fatigue cycling. Testing will establish the effect of trapped hydrogen on ‘standard’ mechanical properties measured, To facilitate this, DNV will remove all girth welds, selected seam welds and fitting welds, and store them at low temperature to mitigate loss of hydrogen from within the trap sites..

A technical note will be prepared comparing the results of the weld inspections (internal and external inspections). The note will be used to confirm defect removal for metallographic examination.

A technical report will be prepared, summarising the macro and microscopic examinations undertaken, confirming defect size (to that reported by UT) and whether the defect was an original feature else created due to the pressure cycle duty of the test vessel and the hydrogen environment.

Analysis of the distribution networks undertaken in the H2 Caledonia and H2 Connect projects has identified sectorisation isolation as the optimal approach for conversion. Sectorisation isolation allows for a sector-by-sector approach, ensuring the gradual conversion of existing Natural Gas connections over to hydrogen, or managing the disconnection process should customers opt for alternative heating solutions. This project will aim to develop an understanding of the technical and financial feasibility of a Flexible Gas Transition Plant (FGTP) through primary project outputs such as: outline of design options, development of a list of transition use cases, a cost benefit analysis (CBA) for each transition scenario, and a roadmap for future phases including prototype design and trials.

Following the work completed on the policies and procedures project by QEMS, WWU have identified the requirement to update and re-vamp the existing Safe control of operations (SCO) procedures used by the network to support delivery of upcoming projects.

FutureGrid CO2 is the final phase of a suite of Carbon Dioxide projects, looking at how National Gas can repurpose parts of its network to transport gaseous-phase Carbon Dioxide safely. What started out as literature reviews and feasibility studies, will turn into, physical testing and demonstration. National Gas will be using its world-leading FutureGrid facility to demonstrate how Carbon Dioxide will flow through its pipes, delivering on its promise to further use this facility after our successful FutureGrid SIF Beta projects. We will also be completing carbon dioxide venting, ruptures and real-time impurity corrosion tests- all of which are underexplored.