The voice of the networks
The voice of the networks
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What does Britain’s hydrogen future hold for our homes and communities? How will we get there? And what opportunities could it create along the way?
Why do we need to replace the natural gas that so many of us rely upon for our heating, hot water and cooking, with hydrogen?
Watch our short introductory video on how Britain’s gas networks are working together to deliver hydrogen safely and securely to our homes.
85% of Britain’s homes currently rely on our world-leading gas networks for heating, hot water and cooking, connected to 284,000km of pipelines around the country.
We need to reduce our average household’s carbon emissions from nearly three tonnes today, to just 135kg by 2050. A drop of 95%.
Delivering a world-leading hydrogen economy here in the UK could deliver as many as 221,000 jobs across the country by 2050.
Our plans will reduce carbon emissions from Britain’s homes in a way that means we can use our heating, hot water and cooking exactly as we’re used to, using people’s existing central heating systems to help keep bills down.
Click on the elements in the house to see our plans.
Hydrogen-ready boilers are the same shape and size as normal gas boilers and won’t require major changes to install them.
Replacing natural gas with hydrogen means we can continue to heat our homes and hot water, and cook our food, in exactly the same way as we do now.
The smell of the gas you currently use is added artificially as a safety measure. We will do the same with hydrogen.
A hydrogen-ready boiler will cost roughly the same as a normal gas boiler, and running Britain’s energy system on hydrogen, biomethane and electricity will save billpayers £13bn a year by 2050. In fact, we expect that running our energy system on hydrogen will be cheaper than using natural gas by the early 2040s, costing less than 5p for each unit of energy used.
Hydrogen can be used with your existing central heating system, avoiding the need for expensive changes to the structure of your home.
Hydrogen can be produced from sources such as renewable wind, solar and industrial sites that remove and capture the carbon from natural gas. The UK gas network is well prepared for hydrogen. The programme to replace Britain’s local gas pipes with new hydrogen-ready pipes is nearly two thirds complete. Subject to approval from the energy regulator, it will conclude by 2032.
Through our innovation projects, we’re making use of our world-leading expertise to enable the safe and secure delivery of hydrogen to Britain’s homes.
Click on the dots to read more about some of the most important projects currently underway, as well as some of the exciting new projects that are now being proposed. You can find out more about these projects in our Innovation Impacts report.
From 2022, the world-leading H100 Fife project will demonstrate how hydrogen produced from renewable electricity generated by a nearby offshore wind turbine can provide 300 local homes with clean heating, hot water and cooking. Read more here.
Using real-life infrastructure to build a model that represents all the different parts of Britain’s gas grid, FutureGrid will show how hydrogen can be used to ensure that we continue to receive safe and secure energy supplies wherever and whenever we need them. Read more here.
HyNet will demonstrate how hydrogen in ‘industrial clusters’ can be used to reduce carbon emissions from Britain’s heavy industry, using carbon capture, storage and utilization technology. In later stages, it will show how that hydrogen can also be delivered to local homes, reducing carbon emissions in a way that supports green industrial jobs and investment. Read more here.
Working with Keele University and the Health & Safety Executive, the HyDeploy project is demonstrating how we can safely replace up to 20% of the natural gas in Britain’s gas grid with hydrogen. This could reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 2.5 million cars off the road each year – all without households having to change their existing boilers, cookers or other appliances. Read more here.
Working with the Health & Safety Executive, the world-leading H21 project is safety-testing 100% hydrogen-ready boilers made by leading manufacturers Worcester Bosch and Baxi, in a variety of different circumstances and settings. Read more here.
There are currently low levels of public awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions from home heating. As part of the H21 project, Leeds Beckett University is undertaking in-depth independent research into attitudes in this area, so we can better understand people’s needs and concerns, and use that information to inform our innovation work. Read more here.
HyCompact is a groundbreaking new project that will provide households with home heating from both green gas and electricity, switching between the two, dependent on which is cheaper at any given time. It brings together a boiler and heat pump into one ‘hybrid’ unit, connected by a ‘smart energy’ hub that responds to signals from the energy grid. Read more here.
Scotland’s north-east and central belt are home to some of its largest industrial carbon emitters. The sector’s reliance on natural gas means that it emits 11.9Mt of CO2 emissions per year: the equivalent of 2.6 million cars, or roughly all the cars in Scotland.
SGN’s North-East Network and Industrial Cluster project is laying the foundations for the rapid decarbonisation of this high-emitting sector, proposing to demonstrate the feasibility of a 100% renewable hydrogen energy system that will repurpose the existing gas network to reduce those emissions.
East Coast Hydrogen is a collaboration between Cadent, Northern Gas Networks and National Grid covering a footprint that includes the North East and East Midlands regions. It’s a project that is seeking to create a hydrogen network with as little cost as possible by re-purposing existing pipeline assets and building new pipelines only if needed.
It is anticipated that this network will build out from the planned hydrogen production clusters in the Humber region, Teesside and the East Midlands – complementing and building on the existing plans of the hydrogen cluster consortia.
The aim is to be ready to transport hydrogen to where it is needed for decarbonising heavy industry, heating, power generation and transport. Connection of the Humber and Teesside clusters, and hydrogen storage, would then be followed by connection to HyNet North West and other hydrogen production clusters in Cumbria and East Anglia.
On the south coast of England, the Southampton Water project looks to support the decarbonisation of local industry and transport. Currently, the area, which is home to one of the UK’s largest and busiest ports, sees around 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emitted each year.
Through their work, the project will investigate the feasibility of developing a hydrogen super-hub at the Port of Southampton to help deliver hydrogen production and distribution across the entire south coast.
H100 Fife will demonstrate just how we can distribute green hydrogen to homes and replace the use of natural gas. The hydrogen will be produced by an electrolyser, powered by electricity from a wind turbine, and delivered through a new pipeline.
The project will operate over two phases and will work on an opt-in basis for customers. A further 300 customers will be invited to opt-in to the trial in the second phase. The project will provide an opportunity to review the impact hydrogen has on the existing network while ensuring that progress is made on Scotland’s 2045 net zero targets.
Great Britain’s six Industrial Clusters have been identified by the Government as having some of the hardest to abate carbon emissions in the country. Approximately a quarter of all UK carbon emissions come from industry. Through their innovation projects, gas network companies have proposed to invest £4.4bn in the next ten years in decarbonising them, potentially creating up to 17,000 jobs.
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National Grid’s Project Union proposes to build a 2,000km national ‘hydrogen backbone’ of pipelines that links Britain’s Industrial Clusters together, using existing and new gas network infrastructure, to supply them with hydrogen.
As part of our Gas Goes Green Pathway to Net Zero, we see the use of hydrogen expanding outwards from these Clusters over time, with the use of it by homes and other businesses joining up over time, to create a zero-carbon gas grid.
What are Industrial Clusters?
Britain’s six Industrial Clusters are distinct because they have a significant number of industrial sites in the same location that manufacture products such as chemicals, iron, steel, glass, ceramics, and paper.
Britain’s gas network companies are investing in innovation projects to decarbonise these clusters using hydrogen and biomethane. Clusters will then be linked through a national hydrogen network of pipes, proposed by National Grid’s ‘Project Union’, acting as the backbone of the zero-carbon gas grid. The supply of hydrogen to homes and other businesses to reduce their emissions will expand outwards from these clusters to the surrounding local areas, joining up over time. Biomethane will be used to reduce emissions in those places where hydrogen isn’t available to properties.
ENA’s Innovation Impacts report shows that new hydrogen innovation projects proposed by Britain’s five gas network companies could create a total of up to 25,000 highly skilled green jobs across Great Britain over the next ten years across five strategically important areas, including those in Industrial Clusters, as they plan to invest a total of £6.8 billion in proposed hydrogen innovation projects.
Up to 13,300 of the jobs would be created by network companies directly with, a further 11,400 jobs created by supply chain partners, in projects spread across the country.
2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
118
Estimated direct jobs created:
77
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
41
2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
13,063
Estimated direct jobs created:
7,044
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
6,019
2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
5,509
Estimated direct jobs created:
2,940
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
2,569
2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
13,063
Estimated direct jobs created:
7,044
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
6,019
2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
314
Estimated direct jobs created:
214
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
100
For the GB wide
proposed investment
from National Grid
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2021/22 - 2031/32:
Total jobs created:
5,740
Estimated direct jobs created:
3,034
Estimated supply chain jobs created:
2,706
Britain’s cow-dung, left-over food and household sewage will produce enough biomethane green gas to heat over three-quarters of a million homes in the winter of 2021/2.
Click on our interactive map below to see how Britain’s gas network companies have connected more green gas plants than ever, to help provide our homes, businesses and communities with homegrown, secure green energy supplies.
Biomethane
16
FlexGen
11
CNG
2
Biomethane
35
FlexGen
22
CNG
0
Biomethane
38
FlexGen
104
CNG
11
Biomethane
35
FlexGen
22
CNG
0
Biomethane
20
FlexGen
44
CNG
4
One biomethane site is connected to the GB wide gas National Transmission System, enabling National Grid to distribute green gas around the country.
Biomethane sites
Sites which produce and inject biomethane into the gas grid. Biomethane is a green gas created from food, farm, crop and human waste.
FlexGen sites
Gas power plants which are designed to support wind and solar farms by providing electricity for those times when the sun isn't shining, and wind isn't blowing. These are planned to be converted to run on hydrogen under the Gas Goes Green Pathway.
CNG sites
Sites which provide compressed natural gas for transport use. These are planned to be converted to run on biomethane under the Gas Goes Green Pathway.
Hydrogen in Britain’s homes means that we will deliver and support investment in communities and industry around the country, including in building Britain’s first hydrogen town.
Click on the elements in the town to see our plans.
Hydrogen has an important role to play in heavy industry, for example in steel manufacturing, because it is often the only alternative to natural gas. As we reduce our carbon emissions from heavy industry, hydrogen will help to keep it internationally competitive. Projects such as the HyNet scheme in north-west England are expected to create 5,000 new jobs in the region by 2025. Using hydrogen to decarbonise all of our industry could create 43,000 UK jobs by 2050, according to research by consultants Element Energy.
Hydrogen can be used as a substitute for natural gas in power plants, generating electricity to keep our grid stable and secure at those times when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind doesn’t blow. Using green or blue hydrogen this way is an example of how we can make our energy system more integrated across the gas and electricity sectors. The Gas Goes Green Pathway to Net Zero is based on this approach, which could save our economy £13bn a year by 2050 in energy costs compared to the alternatives.
Hydrogen means we will be able store large amounts of energy so we can use it at those times when we need it most urgently and unexpectedly, such as during cold weather. This builds on the strengths of our current gas system, which delivers five times more energy than electricity when demand is at its greatest It will make it easier for us all to access cheaper energy supplies and to import and export hydrogen. We’re currently researching how we can store it safely and securely in places like salt caverns, deep underground.
Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas by splitting off, capturing and safely storing its carbon, using steam. In the early stages of building a hydrogen economy, most hydrogen will come from this source until the costs of producing renewable green hydrogen drop, once technology matures. Research by consultants Element Energy estimates that at its peak, 73,000 people could be working in activities related to the construction of blue hydrogen infrastructure.
We need to safely and securely capture the carbon emissions that are created by producing blue hydrogen, using a technology called ‘carbon capture, storage and utilization’. The carbon captured can be either stored (for example in empty oil and gas fields under the North or Irish Sea) or used in manufacturing products such as concrete or plastics, helping to support green jobs. Storing it this way can help create new long-term green skills and job opportunities for the 300,000 people who currently work in Britain’s oil and gas sector.
Hydrogen and biomethane can be used to power our cars, buses and heavy goods vehicles on the road, and our shipping and perhaps aircraft too. Alongside electric vehicles, they will give people and businesses a choice of different technologies to choose from, so they can find a transport type that suits them best. Independent research by consultants Element Energy shows that £16bn could be invested in hydrogen refuelling infrastructure at sites across the country by 2050.
Biomethane is a renewable gas that can be locally produced from organic matter such as manure from farmers or sewage from water utilities’ wastewater sites, to be used in those areas of the country where hydrogen production might be more difficult. In 2021, Britain passed the milestone of the equivalent of over 750,000 homes now being heated by biomethane, demonstrating the homegrown, green gas to play a major role in a zero-carbon gas grid.
The UK has a world-leading offshore wind sector with ambitious growth targets. It currently provides 11,000 jobs around the UK, expected to expand to 27,000 jobs by 2030, according to the Offshore Wind Industry Council. As well as being a source of green hydrogen, offshore wind in the UK serves as an example of how Government policy can build a new industry for hydrogen production by delivering new investment and innovation to drive down costs and deliver jobs.
Green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity from sites such as wind farms, through a process known as electrolysis. It can be created by sites built solely for producing it or from sites with spare electricity when there is little demand for it, allowing that energy to be stored and used as hydrogen when it’s needed, rather than it going to waste. A green hydrogen industry could create 120,000 jobs for the UK economy by 2050, according to the Offshore Wind Industry Council.
Our household carbon emissions need to drop by 95% by 2050 for us to reach our Net Zero emissions target. Household cookers and gas boilers are already capable of managing a gas mix of up to 20% of hydrogen without an impact on the way people use those appliances. Beyond that amount, ‘hydrogen-ready’ appliances will be required, at a similar cost to the natural gas appliances we use today, with some small changes made to the pipes that deliver gas into peoples’ homes from the gas grid.
Around 85% of Britain’s homes are connected to its world-leading gas grid. 74% of Britain’s local gas pipelines are now hydrogen-ready, as a result of long-term local investment plans by gas network companies. They plan to invest a total of £28bn through this work by 2032, delivering green investment and jobs in communities across the country.
Smart energy, data and digitalisation are playing an important role in enabling gas networks to roll out of the green technologies that we need to accelerate progress towards our Net Zero emissions goal.
Here are four projects that demonstrate how and you can find out more detail on them in our ‘Introducing Britain’s Smart Gas Grid’ report here.
FlexGen uses data to forecast the operation of flexible generation power plants, to provide electricity for those times when local renewable energy plants, like wind and solar farms, aren’t generating electricity. Today these plants run on natural gas, but in the future, we think they should be converted to run on hydrogen or biomethane.
By doing that, these plants help keep the electricity grid stable – and so enable the connection of greater amounts of variable, renewable electricity generation to local electricity grids.
Gas networks can be prevented from connecting green gas plants because there are limits to how much green gas can be in the grid when overall demand for gas is low. That’s because the grid stores the natural gas not being used, meaning there’s no capacity for the green gas being produced.
OptiNet uses smart systems so that where there is demand for gas at the times when overall demand is low, it can be met by green gas.
Better data is key to replacing natural gas with green gases like biomethane and hydrogen, because the existing modelling and the systems based on that data dates from the 1980s – and on only using natural gas.
Real Time Networks is using technologies and other hardware, so that gas networks can access data on where, when, how and what different gases are being produced and used in different parts of the gas networks.
Hybrid heating systems use data to flexibly switch between using renewable electricity when it’s available, and green gases like hydrogen at other times. Using clean fuel in this way will enable the full decarbonisation of heat whilst ensuring cost and carbon emissions reductions are prioritised.
The Port of Milford Haven has demonstrated how a hydrogen-fuelled boiler with an electric air-source heat pump alongside smart control technology can be used to heat commercial buildings.
For Britain to meet the challenge of climate change, we need to replace the carbon-emitting natural gas that 85% of our homes rely upon for heating, hot water and cooking. We believe that the best way to do that is to replace that gas with a combination of hydrogen and biomethane, working in partnership with an increased use of electricity.
Bringing together all five of Britain’s gas network companies, our Gas Goes Green programme is our response to that challenge. The programme will research, co-ordinate and implement the changes needed to convert Britain’s world-leading 284,000km of gas network infrastructure to run on hydrogen and biomethane.
If you want to know more about the detail of this work, visit our programme webpage here.
It is a gas network of pipelines and other supporting infrastructure that has been switched over from delivering carbon-emitting natural gas to our homes and businesses, to delivering carbon-neutral green gases like hydrogen and biomethane instead.
The benefits of this approach mean that the UK will be able to:
People’s existing cookers and boilers are designed so that they can operate safely with up to 20% of the gas in the grid being hydrogen. In terms of carbon emissions, blending this much hydrogen into Britain’s gas grid is the equivalent of taking 2.5 million cars off the road a year. And increased biomethane in the gas grid will not have any impact on the way that people use their heating, hot water and cooking.
To prepare for more than 20% hydrogen in the grid, appliances that can be converted to run at 100% hydrogen are being developed by manufacturers to be fitted as part of regular boiler replacement cycles. We believe that, from 2025, all new gas boilers should be ‘hydrogen-ready’ by law.
The biggest advantage of using these appliances is that they don’t require people’s central heating systems to be changed, or for people to change the way they use their heating, cookers or other appliances.
For boilers, the final switch to 100% hydrogen requires an engineer to make some basic modifications. This process is expected to take around one hour – less time than typical boiler servicing. Once converted to 100% hydrogen, the boiler will be permanently switched to the new fuel. With hydrogen-ready products expected to hit the shelves in the next couple of years, manufacturers have said that hydrogen-ready boilers can be developed at either limited or no additional cost to the customer.
With 85% of Britain’s properties connected to our gas networks, decarbonation of natural gas with new, greener gas forms is a critical ingredient of meeting the UK’s net zero targets and addressing climate change.
The replacement of natural gas with hydrogen, alongside the increased use of electricity, has been cited by the Committee of Climate Change as being necessary for the UK to reduce its carbon emissions.
At the same time, simply casting aside a world-leading piece of critical national energy infrastructure and relying solely on electricity, would cost consumers as much as £13 billion more a year by 2050, according to Navigant Research (if that approach is even achievable in the first place).
The costs of running our energy system solely using electric technologies to decarbonise are estimated at £13 billion more a year by 2050 than repurposing our gas grid – that’s almost £500 per household. That is why a balanced approach is required, with hydrogen and biomethane used alongside more electricity, energy efficiency measures and new green technologies.
Reducing our carbon emissions to ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 will require significant investment by the UK Government and industry, with an annual cost of 1-2% of GDP, according to the Committee on Climate Change.
The total cost of investment in switching our energy system over to hydrogen over the next 30 years will be around £182bn.
But by 2045, and aside from the considerable environmental benefits, this approach will prove cheaper than continuing to run the system on carbon-emitting natural gas. And by the time that we reach the Net Zero target just five years later, we forecast that more than £89bn will already have been saved in total. And that’s before we even account for the wider economic benefits that investment could deliver in terms of new jobs, innovation and technology.
We run a programme of events that are designed to provide Parliamentarians, the press, academics, industry and other stakeholders with more detail about the work we’ve set out on this webpage. This year we’ll be running three webinars with a range of different speakers to provide a variety of different perspectives:
To register to take part in these events, just head on over to our events page and enter the title of the event you would like to attend in the search box.
You can find out more about what is going in your area by contacting your local gas network company. You can find out who that is and how you can contact them by putting your postcode into our ‘Who’s my network operator?’ finder.
If you’re a Parliamentarian or a member of the press who would like a more in-depth briefing, then get in touch and one of the Gas Goes Green team will get back to you.
“Imagine how our Green Industrial Revolution could transform life across our United Kingdom… You cook your breakfast using hydrogen… Around you the air is cleaner, and the trucks and trains, ships and planes are running on hydrogen.”
Boris Johnson, Former Prime Minister
The voice of the networks
