Hydrogen town concept to be developed in northern England

The Humber estuary on England’s North Sea coast is set to be the location for what could be one of the world’s first hydrogen towns within the decade.

Under an agreement the British gas distribution network operator Cadent and multi-national energy company Equinor are to work together to assess what a hydrogen town conversion could look like in the area.

With a focus on domestic heating, the two companies will develop technical assessments and concepts for hydrogen production, storage, demand and distribution, in line with the government targets to decarbonise this sector.

With natural gas the major contributor to heating in Britain conversion of the gas networks of a town from natural gas to 100% low carbon hydrogen should lead to a substantial reduction in the carbon emissions linked to home heating and could reduce the town’s overall emissions by up to one quarter.

The Humber, which has gained the title of ‘Energy estuary’, is considered an ideal location to trial a hydrogen town, due to the number of hydrogen projects already proposed.

“Northern Lincolnshire is primed to play a major role in the UK hydrogen for heat revolution,” comments Sally Brewis, Head of Regional Development at Cadent.

“With a hydrogen transmission pipeline already at detailed design stage, potential for large-scale hydrogen production and storage nearby and a gas distribution network that is ready to be re-purposed, it’s clearly an ideal location for a hydrogen town pilot.”

H2H Saltend

Equinor is already active in the area as a lead partner in the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership, which is focussed on decarbonising industrial emissions in the Humber and the wider area. Its H2H Saltend initiative is planned to develop a large-scale blue hydrogen production facility (i.e. sourced from fossil fuels) either at the port of Hull or another nearby location coupled to an offshore carbon capture and storage aquifer to effectively decarbonise the hydrogen.

As the gas network operator for Northern Lincolnshire, Cadent would assess which parts of its distribution infrastructure could be used to carry hydrogen instead of natural gas and develop any new infrastructure required.

Whilst aiming to initially explore both blending and 100% hydrogen options in targeted pilots in the Humber region, the future ambition is to enable the decarbonisation of the gas grid across the north of England and East Midlands, including to major conurbations in South Yorkshire.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the Humber to target yet another ‘world first’ in the low carbon energy agenda, making it a beacon for global investment, innovation and economic growth,” suggests Dan Sadler, Vice President of UK Low Carbon Solutions at Equinor.

“We can continue to build on the multiple exciting hydrogen proposals in the Humber to make this region a real focus of expertise in this growing sector.”

The government’s Hydrogen Strategy anticipates trials of hydrogen heating starting with a ‘neighbourhood trial’ with 300 homes in 2023, followed by a larger ‘village trial’ by 2025 and potentially a hydrogen town pilot before the end of the decade.