Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | DECEMBER 2021 | 39 Making the safety case Speakers across the day from the gas net- work operators shared the critical work that each is undertaking to provide the evidence base to guarantee the safety of hydrogen for use in the network, but the presentation by the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) net zero programme manager, Catherine Spriggs, laid out how this will all be pulled together. This evidence base must be in place in order for network operators to run tri- als using hydrogen, with BEIS expected to define what safety evidence will be needed in a publication due to be issued in March. In order to do this, Spriggs shared that the HSE has recently set up a number of review groups to receive evidence from projects that are already underway, such as HyDeploy and H21. There are nine groups in total looking at different aspects of safety, with one focused on policy and regulatory requirements. She added that while there is an ongo- ing need to develop codes and standards, there are no plans to develop any regulations around hydrogen until a policy decision is made in 2026. "There is lots of work to be done to under- stand what [regulation] would need to be," she said. The work of the review groups will feed into a safety view ready for the 2026 deci- sion. Spriggs said BEIS is "very keen" to know about any potential "showstoppers" that would potentially require investment. She called for "continued collaboration" across the industry and stressed the impor- tance of involving the HSE as early into pro- jects as possible. Planning the transition to hydrogen Planning the transition from today's natural gas to hydrogen and biomethane was a con- sistent topic among the forum's speakers. Danielle Stewart, hydrogen programme manager at National Grid Gas (NGG), said the majority of the system should be able to be repurposed, except the high-grade steel assets. These would need to be doped with oxygen or new pipework laid. "We think we can do [the transition], its all about planning," she said, adding that the real challenge was the scale of the task at hand. Stella Matthews, hydrogen programme manager at Northern Gas Networks (NGN), also spoke about the practicalities of the switchover, pointing to the move from town gas to natural gas in the 1960s as being able to provide a model. She said the transition was likely to hap- pen over several years, and that there may be a need for some new pipework in order to isolate certain areas. "Safety-wise, we are more or less con- vinced that while there are still a few gaps to plug, this is a planning challenge rather than an operational one," she said. While the switchover is some way off, in the short term both network operators and BEIS are exploring the options around intro- ducing low amounts of hydrogen into the system through a "blend". Both NGG and NGN are trialling blends in order to understand how consumers, espe- cially industrial ones, can accept blends, and if there is any flexibility in their require- ments. Matthews said that billing blends correctly "is really crucial", with BEIS spe- cifically looking at blending and billing so that the end consumer is not disadvantaged by the changeover. How to transition customers "Too o—en I read analysis that looks at the technical or economic aspects, but it is important to think about customers," said Cadent Gas's Watson, adding that customers need, and lack, a trusted source of informa- tion on both the behaviour change that the industry is expecting of them, and for the transition away from natural gas itself to a low carbon technology. He agreed with the suggestion by the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers' chief executive Oliver Lancaster that it would be useful to have a physical place where cus- tomers could see appliances and technology in action, as they did during the conversion from town gas to natural gas. However he also called for the formation of a body to rep- resent the "coalition of people" who would need to come together. "Back during the town gas conversions there were regional gas boards and no choice, so it was relatively easy," he said. "For this transition we need a body." Despite it having been the government's almost sole focus for the best part of a dec- ade, Dr Fiona Fylan, reader in sustainable behaviour at Leeds Beckett University said the majority of customers would not wel- come being presented with a myriad of choice. She explained that people tend to go with what they know and are driven by biases, "equally people do not like to be coerced into something", she said. Dr Fylan added that what people are really concerned about is what their bills are going to look like, so need to be given good quality information. Lucinda Dann, features editor "There is lots of work to be done to understand what [regulation] would need to be." CATHERINE SPRIGGS, NET ZERO PROGRAMME MANAGER, HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE "Back during the town gas conversions there were regional gas boards and no choice, so it was relatively easy," he said. "For this transition we need a body." DAVID WATSON, HEAD OF ENERGY TRANSITION, CADENT GAS

• Cover