The UK has today (Thursday) said it will back blending hydrogen into the country’s gas network in “certain scenarios” in which it has been proven to be safe and where it helps guarantee offtakers for low-carbon H2 projects — but reiterated earlier warnings that the contribution of H2 blends in the gas network will be “limited and temporary”.
The statement makes good on government’s promise to reach a decision on whether to back hydrogen blending this year, ending months of uncertainty over the UK’s official position on the matter.
The decision appears to centre on using hydrogen blending as a means of guaranteeing offtakers for the UK’s nascent low-carbon hydrogen projects — 11 of which were
awarded subsidies in the UK’s first green hydrogen auction today — which need credible customers to secure project finance and, in the case of renewable H
2, increase electrolyser utilisation factors.
“Currently, less than 1% of the gas in distribution networks is hydrogen,” said the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in a statement. “Under proposals, hydrogen could be blended with other gases in the network as an offtaker of last resort, working to reduce costs in the hydrogen sector by helping producers, and to support the wider energy system.”
It added: “Hydrogen blending may help achieve the UK’s net zero ambitions, but would have a limited and temporary role as the UK moves away from the use of natural gas.”
The lukewarm and conditional support suggest that DESNZ is still not entirely sold on hydrogen blending, more than a year after the
department warned that the practice will be limited by infrastructure constraints.
Gas distributors have said that most gas networks in use today can carry hydrogen blends of up to 20% in the methane supply without incurring significant additional costs — however a Spanish gas company
reported recently that it would need to spend nearly $800m upgrading its network to this end.
Several studies have warned that blending even small amounts of H
2 into the gas network is
expensive,
wasteful and, when used for heating,
potentially a health hazard.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena)
found that a 20% blend would result in carbon reductions of just 7%, due to hydrogen’s lower volumetric energy density compared to methane.
This means that three times as much hydrogen to gas has to be supplied to deliver the same amount of calorific energy.
And research conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute
in 2022 found that blends of 20% hydrogen in the gas network would increase end-user costs by up to 43%.
Gas company Northern Gas Networks (NGN), which with fellow gas firm Cadent ran the HyDeploy 20% hydrogen blending trial in Gateshead, England in 2022, welcomed the news.
“Today’s announcement that hydrogen will be blended into the gas system is a major step forward and we’re proud that our demonstration of 20% hydrogen blending near Gateshead helped inform this decision,” a spokesperson for NGN told Hydrogen Insight. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the government to build a thriving hydrogen economy, while delivering for our customers.”
NGN’s bigger proposal to trial 100% hydrogen supply in the gas network in Redcar
was today rejected by the government on the grounds that there would not be enough low-carbon hydrogen to deliver it.
