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HYDROGEN NETWORK / 36 / OCTOBER 2019 The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has said that hydrogen is a credible option to help decarbonise the UK energy system. Network editor Alec Peachey examines the progress being made and some of the challenges that remain. R ecent research and demon- strator projects are beginning to show that integrating the use of hydrogen into Britain's energy system is feasible. The opening of a testing facility which will be used to discover if hydrogen could be used to power millions of homes across the country is another posi - tive step forward. The site, at the Health and Safety Executive's Science and Research Centre in Buxton, will carry out controlled tests to establish the critical safety evidence proving that a 100 per cent hydrogen gas network is equally as safe as the natural gas grid heat - ing homes and businesses today. The results will be critical in determin- ing if it is safe to convert millions of homes across the country from natural gas to hydrogen. H21, which is led by Northern Gas Networks (NGN), the gas distributor for the North of England, in partnership with Cadent, SGN and Wales & West Utilities, HSE Science and Research Centre and DNV-GL, is part of a number of gas industry projects designed to support conversion of the UK gas networks to carry 100 per cent hydrogen. Currently, about 30 per cent of UK carbon emissions are from the heating of homes, businesses and industry. H21 states that a large-scale conversion of the gas grid from natural gas to hydrogen is vital to meeting the government's net-zero targets. The Committee on Climate Change report 'Net Zero – the UK's contribution to stop - ping global warming' states that the UK can end its contribution to global warming by setting an ambitious new target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. At the beginning of the report, it high- lights the vital role that hydrogen could play to achieve such a target. And it's clear that gas networks will be key in facilitating progress. Chris Clarke, energy strategy director at Wales & West Utilities, says that up until recently the gas network operator had been taking more of a watching brief over hydrogen. "There's more and more evidence point - ing towards an essential role for hydrogen," he tells Network. "At Wales & West we've taken the strategic decision that now is the right time to move from a watching brief to a more active brief and we're keen to work with others." Whilst acknowledging that there are challenges around the wider deployment of hydrogen, Clarke believes it is crucial to the economy of Wales. "There's heightened awareness of hy - drogen in our region, particularly in south Wales because of Welsh industry. South Wales has got a lot of manufacturing and production and there are already a number of places producing hydrogen. The idea of a hydrogen cluster has started to emerge." Clarke believes the UK is leading the way when it comes to technology advances in this area. "Appliance manufacturers are develop - ing hydrogen boilers and even methane boilers that are hydrogen ready. It's a big step forward so we can now look and say hydrogen is realistic. A couple of years ago I couldn't have told you that, but now it is." The technical side It's clear that technical progress is be- ing made with the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) recently completing its High Highlighting hydrogen Hydrogen project. The project found that methane has a moderating effect on hydrogen mixture pressures, whereas, carbon monoxide makes these mixtures more susceptible to igniting. The project began in 2011 in partner - ship with Imperial College London and the Health & Safety Laboratory which is now the research division of the Health and Safety Executive, based in Buxton. The project carried out a full literature review to identify what work had been performed to date by industry and academia on the use of hydrogen-based fuels in reciprocating and turbine powered generators. Project manager Paul Winstanley told Network: "It was clear the work carried out had been minimal and there was a clear risk of downstream equipment such as heat recovery steam generating (HRSG) boilers being filled with unburnt high hydrogen fuels above their lower flammable exposure limits, if the generator suffered a combus - tion failure. We felt this posed a risk of an