NEW £30m project has been launched in Scotland to find out if hydrogen can be a clean alternative to natural gas, for homes and businesses.
Grangemouth Refinery owner Ineos are leading a project with the business that runs Scotland’s gas networks, SGN to try to bring hydrogen distribution networks a step closer to reality in the UK.
Hydrogen is being championed as the fuel of the future and experts believe it can help tackle the biggest root cause of climate change - air pollution.
The Energy Networks Association (ENA), the industry body representing energy network operators in the UK says that hydrogen could heat homes around the country from next year, with all five of Britain's gas grid companies preparing to provide the gas.
They say that up to a fifth of the natural gas currently used could be replaced by hydrogen.
The move would reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 2.5m cars a year, the ENA said, all without any changes to people’s cookers, boilers or heating systems.
Now a new Scottish pilot project, funded to the tune of £29.93m and supported by the energy regulator Ofgem together with other gas distribution companies will use hydrogen supplied by Ineos in an 18 mile section of decommissioned pipeline between the Grangemouth site and the north Edinburgh district of Granton.
Trials are part of efforts to show it is safe and efficient to add the gas to pipelines, and to find out if adjustments may be needed.
It comes a matter of months after Ineos, which said it is committed to net-zero by 2050 invited engineering design contractors to tender for the design of a hydrogen production plant equipped with carbon capturing capabilities at its Grangemouth site.
The chemicals giant said the “world-scale” plant marked the next significant step on its net zero roadmap, which would see emissions fall by more than 60% across the site by 2030.
Existing Ineos pipework
The group made a commitment last year to invest more than £1 billion to reduce the environmental impact of its Grangemouth refinery, and reach net zero by 2045.
Ineos said that it saw the potential for the supply of a lot more hydrogen as we decarbonise after 2030.
In November, the Scottish Government announced a five year plan to help build Scotland’s hydrogen economy and deliver an ambition for the technology to provide nearly a sixth of Scotland’s energy needs by 2030.
Backed by more than £100 million of funding, the draft Hydrogen Action Plan set out the approach the Scottish Government will take with industry to help make Scotland become a leading nation in the production of reliable, competitive and sustainable hydrogen.
The five-year capital investment programme was to focus on supporting regional renewable hydrogen production hubs and renewable hydrogen projects.
The first tranche of investment, £10 million Hydrogen Innovation Fund, was expected to be launched this year to drive technological progress and advance innovation and cost reduction within the emerging sector.
Separately, the Scottish Government’s Energy Transition Fund was being expanded to up to £75m to deliver £15m of investment in an Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub which will develop on-the-ground infrastructure to support the growth of a hydrogen transport fleet and the deployment of new applications across the north east.
An Ineos spokesman said of the new plan: "If successful, the project will validate the technical, safety and operational ability to transport and store 100% hydrogen in the local transmission system network, offering a route for decarbonisation of the gas network. "With the project programme concluding in 2025, vital learning and validation of the hydrogen evidence base will be available to support both Scottish and UK Government decarbonisation policy, including UK Government heat policy decisions."
Last year, Ineos said it was investing more than £1.7bn into electrolysis projects to make zero carbon green hydrogen across Europe. Its first plants were to be built in Norway, Germany, Belgium within ten years, with investment also planned in the UK and France. Ineos chairman and tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said that hydrogen represents one of our best chances to create a more sustainable and low carbon world.
The Ineos hydrogen business was to have its headquarters in the UK and aims to build capacity to produce hydrogen across its network of sites in Europe, in addition to partner sites where hydrogen can accelerate decarbonisation of energy.
Andrew Gardner, chairman of Ineos Grangemouth said, “We believe that Grangemouth is the ideal location in Scotland to create a hub for hydrogen production, use and export. This trial, in partnership with SGN, will play an important role in helping to make hydrogen distribution networks a reality.
"We believe that Grangemouth is the ideal location in Scotland to create a hub for hydrogen production, use and export.”
SGN director of energy futures Gus Mcintosh added: “Our Local Transmission System is part of the national critical infrastructure that reaches millions of homes and businesses across the UK. So, repurposing it for hydrogen could support a hydrogen system transformation that is least cost and least disruptive to customers.”
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