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2009

Project Capstone

  • Status: Live
  • Reference: NIA_WWU_02_113
  • Lead Network: Wales & West Utilities
  • Start Date: 01 February 2025
  • End Date: 01 November 2027
  • Budget: £353,333
  • Funding Mechanism: Network Innovation Allowance
  • Technology: Storage
  • Project Partners: Project Partners: LCP Delta and Bristol University. The project will be wholly funded via NIA.

Abstract

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.

CAPSTONE will generate new learning across several critical areas of hydrogen network development.

Technically, WWU and project partners will learn how HYDUS modular storage performs under real-world gas network conditions, including its impact on pressure control, linepack behaviour, and operational safety.

Spatially, the project will provide insight into optimal site selection for above-ground hydrogen storage in constrained geographies.

Commercially, the team will explore viable business models, regulatory treatment under RIIO-3, and whole-system cost-benefit implications. This learning will inform future infrastructure planning, guide hydrogen policy development, and support wider GDN readiness for hydrogen deployment across the UK energy system.

The learning generated by CAPSTONE will be directly applicable to other Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs) and, where relevant, Transmission Network Operators planning for hydrogen integration.
file format pdf download NIA_WWU_02_113_NIA_Project_Eligibility_Assessment_2025-12-10.pdf
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