New facility to work towards UK hydrogen gas grid

The North of England’s gas distributor has launched a new facility to support converting the gas grid to hydrogen. Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has officially launched its H21 Project Office […]

The North of England’s gas distributor has launched a new facility to support converting the gas grid to hydrogen.

Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has officially launched its H21 Project Office in Leeds, which it hopes will help establish the city and wider region as the UK’s centre of excellence for hydrogen energy.

The office will gather talent from across academia, government and business to deliver innovative projects with a focus on providing compelling evidence to support the shift from a natural methane gas system to one of zero carbon hydrogen.

NGN believes this would be the single biggest contributor towards the UK Government’s 2050 climate change targets.

The firm says it has shown the gas network has the correct capacity for conversion and can be converted with minimal disruption to customers and a negligible impact on bills.

Initial projects will include proving the safety of such a system, investigating alternative hydrogen production and storage technologies and considering the impact on how network metering would work.

Mark Horsely, CEO of NGN, said: “We are delighted with the government’s announcement of a £25 million programme which will provide significant amounts of the critical evidence required to allow a policy decision to convert the gas network to 100% hydrogen.

“By opening our dedicated project office, we are taking a further step towards our hydrogen future and sending a signal to the government and the rest of the industry that we are ready to work with them to deliver it.”

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