Projects
Project COLLABORATE
Project Collaborate will develop a national digital solution that enables highway authorities and utilities to plan collaborative streetworks proactively. The Alpha phase will deliver a functional prototype that automates the identification and notification of overlapping works enhances data sharing and supports early cross-sector collaboration. By integrating common data standards scalable architecture and stakeholder-driven process design the project will establish the technical and organisational foundations for national rollout. Working with a wide stakeholder group the Alpha phase will demonstrate how digital innovation can embed collaborative streetworks as standard Business as Usual (BaU) practice across the UK’s infrastructure sector.
LPG to Biomethane Conversion
Wales & West Utilities (WWU) is undertaking a major programme of change to support decarbonisation and deliver a Net Zero gas network. This project explores the potential conversion of LPG networks within WWU to biomethane as a pathway to decarbonisation. The initiative is driven by the challenge of replacing LPG in rural off-grid communities where previous alternatives—such as hydrogen blending or full electrification—face significant technical storage and infrastructure constraints.
Biomethane feedstock deliverability
Cadent have been working with The Green Gas Taskforce to commission a series of reports that examine the benefits of greater biomethane generation to Great Britain’s energy system as well as the economic benefits that such volumes of green gas could provide. Work conducted by Alder BioInsights in their “Green Gas Future” report concluded that biomethane volumes of 120 TWh are possible in the UK by 2050 based on technical potential of UK feedstocks.
This project seeks to explore the operational emissions market and developmental implications of meeting the potential volumes published by Alder BioInsights (120 TWh pa by 2050) as well as the implications of meeting the NESO FES 25 Holistic Transition scenario relating to the production of biomethane in the UK (36 TWh per annum by 2035 and 64 TWh per annum by 2050).
The conclusions of this project will be published in a public report entitled “Delivering Green Gas” that:
- Outlines the viability benefits and key questions behind the integration of the UK’s agricultural supply chain AD industry and gas distribution networks.
- Defines concrete actions that need to be taken in the agricultural sector by agricultural policy makers and others to unlock the feedstock volumes set out in the Alder BioInsights work and the NESO scenarios.
- Sets out the broader economic and environmental benefits that could be provided in delivering these volumes of biomethane beyond the energy sector and particularly to the UK’s agricultural sector.
PE Service Pipe Disconnection Phase 2
The PE Service Pipe disconnection project is an evolution from the development project in phase 1 this project is a monitored field trial evaluating a new non-excavation method for permanently disconnecting polyethylene (PE) gas service pipes that terminate in external meter boxes. Developed in collaboration with Steve Vick International and UK Gas Transporters the technique uses a foam plug and sealant system deployed through the external emergency control valve to safely isolate and abandon the service pipe as near as reasonably practicable to the main. The aim is to demonstrate compliance with gas safety legislation while reducing the need for highway excavation lowering costs improving safety and minimising disruption. The trial will gather operational safety and performance evidence to support potential wider adoption and HSE acceptance.
Decarbonising Transport with Vehicle Electrolyser
Northern Gas Networks is exploring innovative solutions to decarbonize its operations and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen fuel produced via electrolysis presents a promising alternative to conventional fuels for fleet vehicles. This project aims to assess the technical operations and economic feasibility of integrating electrolyser systems into a range of Northern Gas vehicles.
The overall project outcome is that NGN and other stakeholders are sufficiently informed to determine whether electrolyser integration is advised based on the technical operational economic and environmental impact.
Hydrogen Transition Pathways for Industrial Clusters
Hydrogen Transition Pathways for Industrial Clusters (HTPIC) is a six-month evidence led research and decision support project developed in response to the EIC’s call for innovation on the energy transition of industrial clusters. The project addresses the challenge of determining where how and under what conditions hydrogen should play a role in decarbonising industrial clusters and surrounding communities alongside credible alternative pathways.
Across the GB energy system existing hydrogen programmes and studies are typically undertaken on a cluster-by-cluster or project-specific basis using differing assumptions scenarios and decision criteria. This makes it difficult for networks and policymakers to compare options consistently understand system level trade-offs or prioritise investment in a transparent and auditable way. The absence of a common decision framework increases the risk of misaligned investment stranded assets and inconsistent outcomes across regions.
HTPIC aims to close this gap by providing NGN Future Energy Networks (FEN) and Xoserve with a structured repeatable decision framework that enables consistent evidence-based comparison of hydrogen pathways across industrial clusters. The project integrates technical economic social and deliverability considerations within a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework allowing complex evidence to be translated into clear and practical insights rather than standalone studies or narrative recommendations.
The project will be delivered in three stages:
- Stage 1 establishes a robust evidence baseline including a comprehensive literature and evidence review documented assumptions register and confirmation of scope and clusters.
- Stage 2 generates robust comparable evidence across clusters through four analytical workstreams covering hydrogen supply and demand gas coexistence and system configuration conversion practicality and costs and just-transition considerations while developing and calibrating the MCDM framework with stakeholders.
- Stage 3 applies the agreed framework to undertake structured optioneering and scenario analysis resulting in prioritised pathways cluster-specific conversion playbooks and decision-ready outputs.
Key outputs include:
- a literature and evidence review with a transparent assumption register;
- a defensible options-rationalisation matrix and MCDM framework;
- a comprehensive report addressing the four research questions set out in the EIC brief supported by an executive summary and cluster-specific annexes;
- cluster-level conversion playbooks translating analysis into practical location-specific insights;
- pathway roadmaps to 2050; and
- a final dissemination pack to support knowledge sharing across NGN FEN Xoserve and Ofgem audiences .
HTPIC will support improved strategic planning for hydrogen and alternative decarbonisation pathways reduce the risk of misaligned investment and stranded assets through structured prioritisation and strengthen alignment between industrial cluster ambitions and network development plans. By providing a transparent and consistent decision framework the project enables clearer sequencing of pathways more robust comparison of hydrogen and alternative options and improved confidence in future investment appraisal.
The project will also enhance understanding of affordability workforce implications and wider community impacts ensuring that pathway selection considers both technical feasibility and socio-economic factors. Through its systematic assessment of coexistence conversion practicality and deliverability HTPIC supports safer and more coordinated progression into downstream engineering and delivery programmes.
HTPIC will generate new system-level learning on hydrogen coexistence conversion practicality and community impacts presented through a structured scenario-based and weighted decision framework that enables transparent comparison across industrial clusters. This learning will strengthen evidence-based decision making across networks and provide a clearer foundation for future programme development regulatory engagement and investment planning.
Learning will be disseminated through the dissemination event final report executive summary and EIC knowledge-sharing channels supporting wider GB network benefit.
The project commences at TRL 2 where the structured assessment methodology and decision framework are defined conceptually. Over the course of delivery the framework will be applied across multiple industrial clusters tested against real-world scenarios and stakeholder calibration and analytically validated through structured optioneering.
By project close the solution will have progressed to TRL 3 with the methodology demonstrated and validated in a decision-support context delivering robust prioritisation and clearly articulated pathways.
The project does not include detailed engineering design trials or implementation. Early-stage engineering validation or delivery programmes across industrial clusters are already underway or in development through separate governance funding and procurement routes. HTPIC is designed to strengthen and rationalise those activities by providing a structured evidence base and decision framework to support confident downstream investment and engineering decisions.
Impact of Changing Weather Patterns
Climate change-related events are increasing in frequency and consequence across Great Britain. Changing weather patterns are disrupting gas network assets supply chains and infrastructure altering the risksandvulnerabilities on the network. This project aims to anticipate evolving weather trends impacting gas networks to ultimately reduce operational disruption and support SGN’s Climate Resilience Strategy.
AI-Driven Policy Transformation for Hydrogen Blending in Gas Distribution Networks
Development of an AI tool to implement an AI-Driven Policy Transformation for Hydrogen Blending in Gas Distribution Networks
Project ARAIA
This project will produce reports that will compare the Asset Interventions Database vs their asset base to provide an estimated readiness rating and confidence level against the gas networks assets for the conversion to hydrogen both 100% and blended.
Emissions Mitigations Techniques
SGN Innovation is exploring how to support its operational colleagues in implementing tools and practices to mitigate emissions coming from pipeline operations. This work is driven by SGN’s GD3 Environmental Action Plan which sets a target to reduce operational carbon emissions by 46% relative to the 2019 baseline with a long-term target of net zero by 2045.
Whilst the Environmental Action Plan and the Network Asset Management Strategy articulate what SGN will invest in there be an “operational pathway” in how these ambitions translate into day-to-day operational decision-making as well as ensuring that the competing requirements on operational staff (efficiency vs emissions reduction for example) are addressed and appropriate guidance and prioritisation given.
This project creates a pragmatic approach to bridge the identified operational gap by establishing a decision framework and playbook for commissioning and decommissioning pipelines that embeds gas drawdown as a default activity with the potential if successful to expand to other areas of implementing the Environmental Action Plan. The aim is to enable SGN’s and other Network workforce to deliver consistent efficient emissions reductions across GD3.
MOB Transition Pathways – Regulatory & Strategic Governance
This project is a research and analysis desktop study to provide a clear evidence base for regulatory and strategic governance pathways related to multi-occupancy building (MOB) decarbonisation. By mapping legislation standards and regional constraints SGN will develop the building blocks for a decision-making framework to justify future investment and planning choices across various low-carbon technologies.
Burst testing of internal sharp defect in hydrogen – conditioning investigation
This project will investigate the effect of hydrogen exposure and conditioning on the failure behaviour of internal sharp defects in pipeline steels. The work builds on testing previously undertaken as part of the LTS Futures programme and NIA_SGN0070 where full-scale burst testing indicated that hydrogen exposure may influence the failure pressure associated with internal crack-like defects. However the available dataset remains limited and some results have shown inconsistencies suggesting that hydrogen conditioning and exposure history may significantly affect material response.
The project will undertake additional full-scale burst testing on vessels fabricated from representative pipeline material containing machined internal sharp defects. The vessels will be subjected to controlled hydrogen conditioning prior to burst testing to evaluate the effect of hydrogen diffusion and retention on fracture behaviour and failure pressure.
Complementary laboratory-scale mechanical testing and fractographic analysis will also be performed to characterise material properties and failure mechanisms. The results will support pipeline integrity assessments and the safe repurposing of the UK Local Transmission System (LTS) for hydrogen transport.
Network Classifier
This project will develop a hydrogen‑specific risk‑based gas escape classification system for WWU by reviewing existing standards and methodologies modelling hydrogen leak behaviour conducting field trials and developing a final operational tool and updated procedures. The project adapts natural gas escape management processes for use on 100% hydrogen networks by analysing gaps in current practice validating real‑world behaviour through targeted trials and producing training documentation and decision‑support tools.
OptiStore
The OptiSTORE project seeks to address the challenge of supply and demand imbalance within Wales & West Utilities’ (WWU) network as means to mitigate the need for storage particularly in support of Net Zero ambitions including the planning for development of new hydrogen pipelines and WWU’s existing HyLine programme.. Current geological hydrogen storage methods such as salt caverns saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs are capital intensive often technically complex and reliant on specific geological conditions which are less present across WWU’s geography.
Whilst hydrogen can be stored as a liquid this process requires extremely low temperatures which is technically complex and costly due to the energy required to maintain such low temperatures. One promising alternative to this is Ammonia which is attractive due to its lower storage temperature (-33°C versus -253°C for hydrogen) higher volumetric energy density and existing infrastructure and regulatory familiarity.
This project will explore the feasibility of using ammonia as a means to provide supply-side flexibility of hydrogen to support industrial clusters and future hydrogen pipeline developments.
H2 Power – Whole System Implications
This project assesses the role of hydrogen‑to‑power (H2P) generation within WWU’s planned hydrogen network. It identifies maps and evaluates potential H2P assets; develops hydrogen demand scenarios; assesses commercial and policy risks; and prepares cost‑benefit analysis (CBA) case studies to inform decision‑making. The outcome will be a fully integrated whole‑system assessment enabling WWU to understand risks opportunities and required policy frameworks for incorporating H2P into regional hydrogen infrastructure.
Lined Rock Caverns for Flexible Hydrogen Storage – Phase 2
This project advances lined rock caverns (LRCs) as a flexible hydrogen storage solution in WWU’s area by moving from regional screening to site‑specific pre‑feasibility. It refines geology and site availability shortlists candidate sites in South Wales and South West England conducts a detailed pre‑feasibility study with borehole core analysis at a priority site and assesses commercial models and funding routes culminating in a final report to inform decisions on progressing to full feasibility.
Hydrogen Storage Feasibility Study – Phase 2
This assesses the suitability of WWU’s three high-pressure gas storage vessel sites (Weston-super-Mare Cheltenham and Bristol/Stapleton) as a case study where learning can be applied to relevant GB networks for hydrogen service. The work includes materials characterisation hydrogen embrittlement testing analysis of 100% hydrogen and 5%/20% hydrogen blends assessment of capacity and pressure requirements evaluation of the implications of removing the vessels entirely and down-selection of viable liner materials and application methods. The project will produce site-specific evidence a shortlist of feasible liner options and clear engineering recommendations to maintain required capacity and pressure envelopes under hydrogen scenarios.
Green Gas Gateway
Gas networks in Britain have connected 130 biomethane plants which together have capacity to produce over 11TWh of green gas – enough to meet the annual demand of around a million average homes.
As biomethane production tends to cluster in farming areas some parts of the country have higher connections and future potential. This can present challenges in relation to the capacity available for existing and new plants to inject biomethane especially when overall gas demand is lower in summer months.
The gas networks and their partners have mature systems and processes to assess capacity and work with producers and developers to identify capacity. More recently potential solutions to constraints have been developed and trialled notably through the Optinet project (NIA_CAD0061) and including Wales & West Utilities’ Smart Pressure Control roll out and Reverse Compression.
The Government is continuing to support new production through the Green Gas Support Scheme and is considering future policy for biomethane. This could significantly increase the volume of biomethane produced and connected which has been recognised in NESO’s FES 2025.
In its Draft Determination for RIIO-3 Ofgem has recognised the potential for future growth in biomethane connections. The regulator “encourage[s] the GDNs to collectively engage with the biomethane industry to streamline and align connection processes”.
In response to this and other feedback from biomethane developers and operators this project will explore the potential for more standardised approaches to support capacity for biomethane and overcome constraints.
Bio-LNG Horizon Scanning
This study will assess the current scale and maturity of Bio-LNG production across GB and Europe to understand the market’s readiness for wider deployment. This includes identifying the economic technical and regulatory barriers that could limit progress and evaluating where suitable biomethane is available for liquefaction along with cost benefit analysis.
SGN operate four remote mainland Statutory Independent Undertakings supplied by tankered LNG from the Isle of Grain. The role of Bio-LNG in supporting network resilience and influencing decarbonisation pathways will be examined. Finally the economic viability of different operating models to determine the most effective route for future Bio-LNG development. Ultimately this study will inform a strategic decision on SIU decarbonisation options and inform potential for future Bio-LNG ‘islands’ across GB networks as a means of decarbonising.
Hydrogen Blending Transformation Baselining
Following the successful completion of Blending Implementation Plan (BIP) Phase 2A (Design) in 2025 and multiple Asset Records and Compatibility projects valuable insights have been generated but remain fragmented. The project is required to consolidate findings from a range of work to date close gaps and provide more granular impacts and cost/time estimates. This will provide a blend-readiness baseline to inform the roadmap for the subsequent survey and assessment phase as well as development of a Transformation Planning Tool applicable for all GB network licensees.