Utility Week

40 | DECEMBER 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Analysis Hydrogen home heating trial Off the back of SGN acquiring the electrolyser for its 'world first' green hydrogen project in Fife in October, we take a closer look at what's being described as a 'blueprint' for decarbonising heat. I t's fair to say that in the 12 months since the prime minister unveiled some of the most ambitious proposals for growing Britain's hydrogen economy to date – includ- ing the commitment to a "hydrogen village" by 2025 – hydrogen's blue, or green, touch paper has been well and truly lit. In July, for instance, it was announced that the gas was to be blended on to a pub- lic gas network for the first time in the next phase of the £22.5 million HyDeploy project, with plans for what its developers claim will be the UK's first commercial-scale, low- carbon hydrogen fuel hub submitted barely a month later. What's more, the UK government's Hydrogen Strategy forecasts demand reach- ing 35% of UK final energy consumption by 2050, with Britain's first Hydrogen Village Trial poised to pipe the gas to a statistically representative customer base of up to 2,000 occupied homes, offices and other buildings – all of which will use 100% hydrogen for a period of at least 12 months. SGN – which provides gas to approxi- mately 5.9 million homes and businesses in the south of England and across Scotland – has also announced its H100 "Neighbour- hood Trial" in Fife. In early October the firm signed an agree- ment with hydrogen technology provider Nel ASA to supply the electrolyser for what it claims is a world first hydrogen-to-homes heating network in Levenmouth, Scotland. The project aims to demonstrate 100% green hydrogen heating in an initial 300 homes and will see the construction of a hydrogen production, storage and demon- stration facility at Energy Park Fife in Methil. Eligible households will have the choice to switch to hydrogen or remain with their existing gas supply. Customers who opt-in to the project will have their home supplied with hydrogen for heating and cooking through a new distribution network in 2023. According to SGN, the initial 300 homes joining the project will receive a free hydro- gen connection, free replacement hydro- gen appliances and free maintenance over the length of the project. They will also pay the same amount for hydrogen gas as they would for natural gas. H100 Fife has also pledged to use elec- tricity from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult's nearby offshore wind turbine to produce the hydrogen via electrolysis. According to SGN, the 5MW alkaline water electrolyser provided by Nel will deliver up to 2,093kg of green hydrogen per day. The project's 100% green hydrogen will then be stored and transported to provide zero-carbon heating for the project demon- stration facility and customer homes. SGN director of energy futures Angus McIntosh described the agreement with Nel as a "milestone achievement" towards deliv- ering the H100 Fife project. He stressed that the two parties share a vision to drive a sus- tainable energy transition. "Hydrogen can allow us to decarbonise homes with minimal change or disruption to how customers heat their homes. We believe this is will be a crucial factor in delivering our net-zero targets as quickly as possible." The Nel electrolyser will be installed in Energy Park Fife in 2022 and the project will be operational for approximately four-and-a- half years until March 2027. Blueprint for decarbonising heat According to project manager Lorna Archer, SGN ran a competitive tender for the H100 Fife hydrogen electrolyser, which began in 2020 and concluded with Nel ASA being appointed in September 2021. "H100 Fife offers a blueprint for decar- bonising heat by providing a foundation that is replicable and scalable," Archer tells Util- ity Week Innovate. "The planned future expansion phases of H100 Fife intend to diversify the end-user application to commercial, industrial and transport sectors with the overall ambition of delivering a whole system solution for hydro- gen in Fife." Explaining that the customer opt-in fea- ture of H100 is "key", and provides SGN with a unique opportunity to understand customer appetite and social acceptance of hydrogen in a real-world demonstra- tion, Archer adds that the firm has strived to ensure customers are able to make an informed choice on whether they wish to participate. As such, the firm has proposed a dem-

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