Future Energy Networks

In metering applications, Equations of State (EoS) are mathematical models that are used to convert measured volumes to standard units. This enables transfer from volume to mass, allowing customers to be billed and for the networked to be balanced in energy. Metering and network balancing cannot be performed in volume, as it doesn’t account for relative, varying gas component concentrations – and therefore CV.

The EoS currently used (AGA8) is acceptable for up to 5% hydrogen, but after this point it’s uncertainty is unknown – meaning the network may be unable to maintain accurate billing or system balancing. This project will obtain experimental data for a range of net zero gases and compare the output of several EoS for accuracy against real, measured, NTS-representative conditions.

The Fairer Warmth Hub (FWH) connects stakeholders of the Net Zero Transition through place-based strategies, providing tools and guidance to facilitate local energy plans and enhance collaboration. The FWH integrates digital tools and community engagement to facilitate effective communication and planning among diverse stakeholders, including households, small businesses, and local authorities. FWH is designed to bridge the gap in the energy transition by providing tailored support to these stakeholders, ensuring that the transition is inclusive and just. The FWH integrates three core elements:

• Trained ‘Champions’ – Volunteers or staff, known as Champions, are recruited and trained to support community engagement, helping to build trust and reduce miscommunication in local energy initiatives.
• Digital Tools (Virtual Assets) – Innovative digital tools (App + Website) and resources are used to facilitate energy transition planning and community engagement, particularly assisting Customer In Vulnerable Situation (CIVS) and those who are digitally excluded.
• Community Centres (Non-Virtual Assets) – Physical community hubs serve as accessible locations for hands-on support, providing a space for CIVS and other stakeholders to engage directly in the energy transition.

Gas networks supply embedded power stations that support the electricity network. These embedded generators can fire up without any warning to GDNs and is causing significant challenges to gas networks.

GDNs are required to submit hourly gas demand nominations to National Gas for each offtake point within specified time deadlines.

Embedded generators are small. They are not included in the UNC’s requirements to notify their GDN of intended offtake activity due to their size being below the threshold for NExAs (network exit agreements). Despite this, GDNs must include the demand from these embedded generators in their nominations to ensure there is sufficient gas within their network. This causes numerous challenges for SGN and other GDNs.

GDNs’ current forecasting process does not specifically forecast embedded gas generation, and current models do not take inputs from the electricity market. Embedded generators act in a variety of electricity markets, yet GDNs don’t have visibility of this demand.

It is anticipated that additional embedded generators will connect in the coming months/years as the demand for electricity increases.The challenge of not having knowledge of embedded generator’s demand and its potential to contribute to a storage shortage has been acknowledged by both EGRIT (Electricity and Gas Resilience Task Group) and NESO (National Energy System Operator). The benefits of creating a notification platform supported by a ML engine are various. Namely to develop an ML-enabled forecasting tool to predict gas demand from embedded generators with increased accuracy as delivery time approaches. In addition to create a notification platform to improve real-time visibility of embedded generator activities within the electricity and gas networks.

This NIA project aims to progress the FEmGE forecasting tool from TRL 1 to TRL 7, delivering a fully functional MVP. NGN will be funding this project to the value of £92,333 and SGN to £184,666 of the total of £276,999.

To reach our national net zero targets by 2050, we need to decarbonise approximately 25 million homes in England. Domestic heating accounts for approximately 14% of the UKs entire emissions and significant investment is required to improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock. In addition, there are major challenges associated with domestic decarbonisation:

• England has the most diverse housing stock in the UK. with 35% built before the end of WWII.
• Sixty-four percent are owner-occupied, and these homeowners need to have a good, cost effective and efficient experience of home and heating upgrade as we move towards zero carbon homes.
• Implementing heating upgrades to this ageing housing stock requires a ‘whole house’ approach therefore, consideration must be given to the building fabric and heating system.

Retrofitting existing homes with electric heating systems or deployment of green hydrogen boilers offer potential solutions however, the intricacies of deployment and installation are complex, further research and development is required to learn more about installation, performance of various heating options. Doing so will inform future domestic decarbonisation strategies.

This project will explore ventilation and explosion relief requirements for housing currently used on the gas network for pressure regulating installations (PRIs). Housings currently provide security from a range of factors from weather to vandalism, while also providing the necessary relief requirements in the event of an emergency. The understanding of these requirements for Natural Gas has been developed, however, work conducted in the IGEM TD/13 hydrogen supplement did not fully address whether these design specifications are suitable for use with Hydrogen. This multi-stage project will first explore the design specifications listed in industry standards (IGEM/TD/13, GIS/PRS/35, SGN/SP/CE/10, etc) and understand which of these may be appropriate and which may require redesign. The latter stage of this project will take the design specifications deemed to be unsuitable for use with hydrogen and conduct testing to develop revised design specifications which would provide the necessary relief requirements.

National Gas Transmission (NGT) own and operate the UK’s National Transmission System (NTS), transporting natural gas from terminals to end users. NGT have ambitions to repurpose the existing to transport hydrogen and hydrogen blends. Understanding the impact of hydrogen on our existing assets is a key enabler for this.

This project will conduct design of flare for hydrogen and its blends and vent system for hydrogen, its blends and carbon dioxide and offline physical testing to provide evidence that hydrogen / hydrogen blends could be flared and vented safely and environmentally in for NTS.

The LTS Futures project aims to understand how the local transmission system (LTS) could be repurposed from Natural Gas to hydrogen. The project encompasses several elements which will feed into a blueprint methodology for repurposing the LTS to hydrogen. During one of the work elements, LTS Futures conducted full-scale testing of pipeline defects and small-bore connections exposed to hydrogen. Testing was conducted until failure to provide information for hydrogen pipeline design, standards, and operational procedures. This project will undertake further detailed analysis of the fracture surfaces to provide a visual confirmation of hydrogen diffusion into the pipeline microstructure and if this contributed to failure.

Laboratory and full-scale testing have demonstrated that hydrogen gas affects the fracture performance of pipeline steel welds. To avoid severe knockdown factors stipulated by existing hydrogen pipeline codes, mechanical property data from welds tested in high-pressure gaseous hydrogen is required to enable optimised operation of the NTS in hydrogen.

National Gas Transmission have conducted a series of fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rate tests on a wide selection of pipeline steels and welds representative of those used on the National Transmission System (NTS). A thorough review of the welds tested and how these compare to the wider population of welds in service on the NTS is required to provide further confidence to use this data in pipeline repurposing assessments and for new build design.

This project will help WWU to understand considerations for 100% Hydrogen Rollout at a town scale, to inform future activity on preparation for repurposing. Areas will be chosen which are representative of different networks, housing stock and demographics, which will require different approaches and engagement.

Existing defect assessments and repair methodologies are aligned with the T/PM/P/11 and T/PM/P/20 management procedures and are adopted to inspect, assess and repair the pipelines for defects and take suitable measures to reduce them. However, the scope and applicability of the repair techniques in the presence of high-pressure hydrogen remain uncertain. The key questions which form an outline of the project are:

1. What are the different types of defects, we may encounter or consider injurious in the presence of hydrogen?
2. What is the impact of hydrogen on each defect type? Have the mechanisms of failure changed for each defect type after hydrogen-natural gas blending?
3. Will the existing repair techniques be applicable under transmission of high-pressure hydrogen and hydrogen-natural gas blends?
4. Can we implement the defect assessment, inspection and repair methodologies safely? Are the techniques safe and suitable for the pipeline operations and maintenance teams?

The project seeks to answer the above in addition to understanding the types and extent of repairs across the NTS and assess the impact of hydrogen on the effectiveness of these inspection, assessment and mitigation technologies.