Future Energy Networks

Renewable Energy Harvest unlocks the untapped power of Britain’s countryside by turning farm, food, and forestry residues into clean, flexible green gas. By combining biomethane and syngas production with advanced mapping and forecasting tools, the project will identify where rural resources can best connect into the gas network. This innovation supports a fair, low-carbon transition - cutting emissions, reducing costs, and keeping energy value in local communities. Backed by Northern Gas Networks and partners, Renewable Energy Harvest paves the way for smarter, more resilient infrastructure that helps Britain make better use of low-carbon gases for a decarbonised future energy system.

This project delivers an evidence-based assessment of resilient energy futures for NHS as the health service transitions toward its Net Zero target. The work combines national-level analysis with site-specific audits to develop replicable methodology for assessing healthcare estates provide NHS Boards and SGN with clear, prioritised roadmaps for maintaining clinical resilience while reducing carbon emissions.

Scottish NHS sites are used as a case studies as it operates 14 territorial Health Boards with complex estates that currently depend on gas for heating, hot water, and essential clinical services. The project addresses a critical planning challenge faced by all gas networks: healthcare estates currently depend on gas for heating, hot water, and essential clinical services, as electrification and alternative heating solutions are deployed unevenly, there is significant uncertainty around how quickly gas demand will decline, where it will remain critical, and how network resilience can be maintained during the transition. Working with Energy Systems Catapult, Jacobs, and Aiming for Zero, the project will deliver GIS mapping of priority sites, site-level audits, techno-economic modelling, and Board-specific implementation roadmaps, providing SGN, NHS Scotland and other networks with the evidence base required for coordinated, cost-effective decarbonisation planning.

This project will develop a data-led understanding of all MOBs,their characteristics and associated risks (e.g., riser failure likelihood, building age/type) to accurately forecast the complexity, duration, and cost of replacement works. This will support SGN with effective planning and delivery of the Tier 1 Replacement Programme and optimise REPEX spend. The MOB data platform that this project aims to produce will allow SGN to assess the long-term viability of gasin older MOBs and proactively explore buy-outs or alternative energy solutions where it makes more sense than costly infrastructure replacement.

National gas pipeline systems rely heavily on protective coatings and cathodic protection to prevent corrosion and ensure long-term integrity. Coatings act as the primary barrier against environmental exposure, while cathodic protection—typically using sacrificial anodes or impressed current systems—supplements this by mitigating electrochemical reactions that cause metal degradation. The introduction of hydrogen into these pipelines, as part of decarbonization efforts, presents new challenges. Hydrogen can permeate coatings and accelerate corrosion processes, especially in the presence of certain microbes. Microbiologically induced corrosion (MIC), driven by bacteria such as sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), can be exacerbated by hydrogen, which some microbes use as an energy source. This interaction may compromise both the coating and cathodic protection systems, necessitating advanced materials and monitoring strategies to maintain pipeline safety and performance in a hydrogen-integrated future.

Significant efforts are required to support the transition of our energy systems moving away from carbon-intensive fuels such as coal, diesel, petrol and gas, towards cleaner sources of power generation such as wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen. There is a potential for hydrogen to play a hugely significant role in our energy system, the extent of which will be driven by a range of factors, including the ability to transport it to where it is needed. There have been recent positive decisions for hydrogen’s potential uses in blending, transportation, domestic heating and industry. To produce sufficient hydrogen to meet this potential need, it will be important to increase and diversify hydrogen production methods.

As nuclear is a reliable and consistent source of clean energy that is unaffected by external factors such as the weather, Northern Gas Networks and Wales and West Utilities would like to investigate the possible use of nuclear power as a method of delivering the future increased demand in hydrogen production. This project will explore the opportunity for hydrogen production from nuclear to support a net zero transition across the gas network.

Benefits of nuclear-enabled hydrogen (NEH) in the context of gas distribution networks (GDNs) will be explored, building on the established benefits of nuclear energy production.

The overall project outcome is that NGN, WWU, and other stakeholders are sufficiently informed to determine whether further investment and integration of nuclear-enabled hydrogen to transition plans are justified, and how a potential first project could take its next step to deployment through securing technology licences, sites, off takers and financing.

This study examined options for making progress on domestic heat decarbonisation, against an ongoing backdrop that most consumers in GB have not chosen to install heat pumps. The study finds that forcing consumers to do so is likely to increase costs for everyone and spark backlash against climate policy. The paper sets out the parameters for a more flexible pathway, which supports technologies, including hybrid heat pumps, based on emissions and cost savings. The core finding is that by allowing consumers to transition more gradually to newer technologies, this approach offers a lower-cost and more voter-friendly (and therefore deliverable) pathway to net zero.

The UK’s biomethane sector faces challenges due to the diverse and non-standardized grid entry requirements across different Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs). This variability leads to increased costs, complexity, and lead times for biomethane projects, hindering the industry’s growth and efficiency.

The transition from natural gas to hydrogen introduces new material challenges within the context of the GB gas network. One critical concern is hydrogen embrittlement, particularly in 17-4 Precipitation Hardened (PH) Stainless Steel, commonly used in axial flow regulators and other key gas network components like valve stems. Hydrogen embrittlement can significantly reduce ductility, fatigue life, and fracture toughness, potentially leading to component failure. While research exists, much of it focuses on extreme conditions (e.g., high pressures and rapid temperature cycling) that do not reflect typical operational environments in the GB gas network.

This project will deliver the first comprehensive and evidence‑based update to IGEM/TD/2 to enable its safe and consistent application to 100% hydrogen and hydrogen‑blend transmission pipelines. Current TD/2 methodologies reflect only natural gas behaviour, leaving critical gaps in failure frequencies, consequence modelling, harm criteria and risk‑reduction approaches for hydrogen. Through a structured programme of technical analysis, modelling, validation against large‑scale hydrogen test data, and extensive stakeholder engagement, the project will develop hydrogen‑specific failure frequency tables, consequence and overpressure models, harm thresholds, and guidance on appropriate risk‑reduction measures. These will be consolidated into a publication‑ready TD/2 Hydrogen Update Technical Suite and IGEM drafting instructions, ensuring regulatory alignment and industry consensus. The outcome will provide a unified, defensible framework that accelerates hydrogen network projects, supports the UK’s energy transition, and strengthens safety assurance across the gas sector.

The following is a proposed outline for a report on the decarbonisation benefits and potential of biomethane in the UK Road Haulage sector.

The report will position biomethane as:

1. A complimentary technology to zero tailpipe emission vehicles that offers faster decarbonisation potential due to the near-term infrastructure scalability of the technology and the suitability for long distance and non-fixed route logistics.
2. A cost-effective way to reduce Carbon emissions by over 84% over the next 15-20 years whilst zero tailpipe emission technologies are developed, and the supporting infrastructure is deployed.
3. An enabler to the transition to zero tailpipe emission vehicles by offering reduced carbon abatement costs that, in turn, can generate funds to invest in zero emissions infrastructure and vehicles.

It will serve as a reference document for discussions with industry stakeholders, governments, and regulators.