Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 26TH OCTOBER - 1ST NOVEMBER 2018 | 23 Operations & Assets industry upside down and is going to con- tinue to do so. There is at least a prospect that the same is going to happen with gas," says Keay. "I would argue that electricity markets are broken; I would also argue that regulation is broken. The original regulatory settlement was based on the assumption that there were four "bits" to electricity – genera- tion, transmission, distribution, and supply – that is really not the case anymore. "There is a huge overlap between trans- mission and distribution and generation. We've seen that, for instance, with the inter- connector competing in the capacity market, and with UKPN investing in flexibility as an alternative to distribution strengthening. Dieter Helm [an energy expert and govern- ment adviser] has suggested the whole regu- latory system for distribution should go out the window. Ofgem is looking at the supplier hub principle. Basically, the whole regula- tory system is broken." He says the main approach to decar- bonisation in the UK has been by encour- aging low-carbon generation. "Government started this process by thinking: well it's just a matter of slotting in a low-carbon source for another – it's not. It changes the whole dynamic of the system and everything else. That is going to happen in other sectors too, but we don't know how far and how fast and in exactly what way." Now, Keay argues, the country has ended up in a state of "ideological limbo" as far as energy policy is concerned. "Governments are, in principle, committed to markets, but they have to keep intervening in practice, both to meet their carbon objectives and to offset their earlier interventions." Oxford Institute for Energy Studies' work concluded that it is, therefore, "difficult to see a clear way forward for the technology", given that, in the present state of uncer- tainty, a clear vision of a hydrogen-based energy economy is needed. However, others in the energy industry are more optimistic about the prospects for hydrogen. Network companies are doing a lot of work on the feasibility of using the fuel. In a column for Utility Week (see p11), Northern Gas Networks chief executive Mark Horsley says the opportunity to repurpose the gas network to transport a zero-carbon gas such as hydrogen could be "transforma- tional" for heat, making this alternative gas a cornerstone of a diverse and sustainable low-carbon energy mix. "The UK government has recognised hydrogen as a key pathway to decarbonising heat and there are currently several significant hydrogen projects under way in the UK testing different scenarios and advocating various approaches." Hydrogen can be produced in a number of different ways, and the production technology used determines the degree to which it is environmentally friendly. Natural gas reforming/gasification Synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and a small amount of carbon dioxide) is created by reacting natural gas with high-temperature steam. This method is the cheapest, most efficient, and most common. Electrolysis An electric current splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. If the electricity is produced by renewable sources, the resulting hydrogen is considered renewable as well. Renewable liquid reforming. Renewable liquid fuels, such as ethanol, are reacted with high temperature steam to produce hydrogen near the point of end use. Fermentation Biomass is converted into sugar- rich feedstocks that can be fer- mented to produce hydrogen. Work in progress H21 The H21 Leeds City Gate project is a study being carried out by Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities to determine the feasibility, from both a technical and economic viewpoint, of converting the existing natural gas network in Leeds to transport hydrogen. The project has been designed to minimise disruption for existing customers and to deliver heat at the same cost as natural gas. It has shown that: • The gas network has the correct capacity for such a con- version, which would reduce heat emissions by around 73 per cent reduction. • The network can be converted incrementally to mini- mise disruption to customers. • Minimal new energy infrastructure is required com- pared to alternatives. • The existing heat demand for Leeds could be met via steam methane reforming and salt cavern storage using technology in use around the world today. HyDeploy HyDeploy is an energy trial being hosted at Keele Univer- sity, Staffordshire, to establish the potential for blending hydrogen into the normal gas supply. The project is funded by Ofgem's Gas Network Innova- tion Competition, Cadent and Northern Gas Networks. Subject to Health & Safety Executive approval, the aim is to run a year-long live trial of blended gas starting in 2019. In summary, the research aims to: • Establish and demonstrate the level of hydrogen blended with natural gas that can be distributed and used safely in the UK (up to 20 per cent). • Provide practical evidence that a hydrogen blended gas can be delivered and used without disruption to gas customers. • Collate data about how a sample of current UK gas appliances work with hydrogen blended gas. • Inform the national debate over routes to decarbonisation. Hy4Heat The £25 million Hydrogen for Heat Programme – com- missioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – will look at the feasibility of convert- ing a small village or estate to use hydrogen for cooking and heating instead of natural gas. The Arup-led consortium will explore the practicalities of using the zero-carbon gas in homes and will facilitate the design and manufacture of new appliances such as fires, cookers and boilers, for both domestic and com- mercial use. The project, expected to run until March 2021, will explore public attitudes to changing to hydrogen. Ulti- mately, it will have laid all the groundwork for the demon- stration of a pilot project in a village or small town. Hydrogen production methods cur- rently in development High-temperature water splitting: High temperatures generated by solar concentrators or nuclear reac- tors drive chemical reactions that split water to produce hydrogen. Photobiological water splitting: Microbes, such as green algae, consume water in the presence of sunlight, producing hydrogen as a byproduct. Photoelectrochemical water splitting: Photo-electrochemical systems produce hydrogen from water using semiconductors and energy from sunlight. HYDROGEN PRODUCTION IN THE L AB

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