Future Energy Networks

Wales and West Utilities are partnering with HydroStar, Welsh Water and NGED to look at two demonstrator projects required from new electrolyser systems and the associated electrolyte that ensures resilience of hydrogen supply across the network, giving best value for money and energy security within WWU’s network, along with other UK wide Gas Distribution Network (GDN) customers.

Current electrolysers focus on stack-efficiency and hydrogen purity without considering real-world manufacturing and operational constraints, and the high costs associated. This project focusses on utilising impurified-water, e.g. rainwater, storm-overflow and industrial process wastewater as feedstock, which reduces operational constraints and costs for customers whilst enabling wide-scale uptake of low-carbon hydrogen.

View our Year One Annual Report here:

Future Energy Research & Insights | Wales & West Utilities

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The aim of this project is to study and recommend a a resilient solution for National Gas’ remote operations, considering also harsh operational environments from a communications perspective. A technical study will be undertaken on mobile, hybrid satellite-cellular terminals, compatible with use with batteries, targeting the National Gas operation teams deployed in locations where traditional connectivity options are limited or non-existent. There will be a focus on solutions that integrate cellular and satellite communication technologies suitable for its installation in the operation teams’ vehicles and that can also become a portable terminal for those areas that can only be reached by foot.

This project has enormous potential to benefit all customers in vulnerable situations as it will provide accurate assessment of communities and all interested parties to provide suitable support to the area. This will enable GDN, DNO, Electricity transmission, and Gas transmission partners such as community groups to specifically target areas with relevant support, this will allow project partners to accurately provide information which will be bespoke to the specific needs of the area such as Carbon Monoxide awareness, Priority Services Register messaging, increasing awareness and registrations.

It will allow GDN’s or other service providers to enlist support for VCMA, BAU or NIA projects directly addressing the needs of communities, rather than adopting a broad-brush approach which has been the traditional approach. This system will present itself as the very foundation for future years projects and investments, specifically as we progress through the energy system transition which will help address the very real and ever-changing needs of communities and vulnerable customers groups by putting data at the front and centre of future decision making for GDN’s and partners.

This project will update the Pathfinder tool, to improve functionality and reflect more current underlying data. Use of the tool developed in this project should result in better choices regarding investment in energy saving measures

The Unaccounted-for Gas (UAG) project aims to develop a predictive tool that identifies and quantifies UAG across the National Transmission System (NTS). Leveraging 12-18 months of SCADA data, the tool will simulate gas flow and metering behaviour to pinpoint anomalies and reduce losses. UAG currently represents significant financial cost to the consumer; even a 1% reduction could yield practical savings. The project aligns with RIIO-2 NIA criteria and supports regulatory compliance under Special Condition 5.6. It builds on prior research, and integrates learnings from international benchmarks. The initiative will enhance operational efficiency, improve data transparency, and support long-term decarbonisation goals through better system visibility and control.

Repurposing of natural gas pipelines made of carbon steel for use with hydrogen blends requires a fitness-for-service analysis as part of the hydrogen use safety case. Girth welds of an unknown quality exist in the Local Transmission System (LTS). In hydrogen service these welds would have a greater susceptibility to fracture failure due to material embrittlement caused by interaction of steel material with hydrogen.

Current inspection methods do not routinely inspect girth welds for defects. Deterministic defect assessment models require the use of conservative assumptions for defect sizes, material properties and loading. This can lead to overly pessimistic conclusions about the suitability of pipelines with girth welds for use with hydrogen.

More detailed probability-based assessments are required to reduce the inherent pessimism in deterministic calculation methods. This would provide confidence of the safety and allow for greater use of the LTS with hydrogen and contribute to a quicker and cheaper energy transition for the UK gas network.

In 2022 a consortium of Urenco, EDF, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Bristol University were awarded £7.7m worth of funding from the UK Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to develop a hydrogen storage solution, HyDUS. This solution could help to alleviate storage across GB. Unlike conventional storage approaches that rely on salt caverns or depleted fields, HYDUS uses modular metal hydride technology, enabling above ground deployment in geologically constrained areas.

This project will evaluate the feasibility and value of deploying HyDUS, a modular above-ground hydrogen storage system, as a means of storage across GB. The project will use WWU’s proposed HyLine hydrogen transmission corridor in Wales and South West England as a case study.

As the UK attempts to decarbonise residential heat to meet net zero by 2050, electric heat pumps along with heat networks are expected to play a key role. However, it is generally accepted that no one technology will be able to meet the needs of all households. If we are to deliver affordable low- carbon heating in the residential sector, we shall need as wide a range of technology options as possible to overcome the economic and technical challenges facing every customer.

Project GaIN (Gathering Insights) will explore alternatives to heat pumps and heat networks which can utilise the robust gas network and benefit from its current upgrade programme, supporting the aims of DESNZ’s decarbonisation of heat roadmap. The project will discover and assess additional technology options where alternative solutions might be more costly or difficult to deliver; this will include LAEP system benefits as well as localised CAPEX and OPEX costs.

The use of greener gases such as biomethane are an important part of the UK’s transition to net zero. Underground storage sites for biomethane are critical for balancing seasonal supply and demands for energy. However, increased levels of oxygen in biomethane can lead to corrosion of assets in wet gas conditions, compromising the integrity of storage facilities. This project assesses in a comparative analysis the technical and economic viability of advanced catalytic and adsorption technologies to reduce oxygen levels in biomethane with corrosion inhibitors to ensure the integrity and longevity of critical storage infrastructure.