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NETWORK / 21 /JULY/AUGUST 2016 47% of something in here thank you 26% 15% M A K I N G L E E D S A H Y D R O G E N C I T Y: M E E T I N G D E M A N D H Y D R O G E N A L L T H E W AY H21 Leeds City Gate: New hope for a hydrogen economy Another pioneering project to shape the future of the UK gas network is the H21 project from Northern Gas Networks. This ambitious scheme sought to prove that it is feasible to use 100% hydrogen across signifi cant areas of the gas network. On 11 July, the project's fi ndings were published in the H21 Leeds City Gate report. Northern Gas Networks (NGN) now says that a UK-wide conversion to hydrogen would reduce emissions associated with space heating by at least 73%. It would also reduce emissions from transport and electricity power generation. Since more than 30% of all UK carbon emissions come from domestic heating and cooking, this would make a major contribution to meeting the country's carbon reduction targets, which, as National Grid highlighted in early July, are in danger of being missed due to an undue emphasis on decarbonisation of power to date. NGN and its partners on the H21 project (including Wales and West Utilities, Kiwa and Amec Foster Wheeler) are now confi dent that incremental conversion of natural gas networks to carry hydrogen can be achieved at city-scale safely and with minimum disruption to customers. Dan Sadler, H21 project manager at NGN, comments: "Households won't be required to buy new appliances. The conversion process will be similar to that carried out in the 1960s and 1970s when 40 million appliances across 14 million households were converted from town gas to natural gas. "We'd have special teams, working street by street, to make the conversion as smooth as possible for customers with minimal impact in the homes and the highways." Leeds City Council's Lucinda Yeadon is enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a hydrogen city. "The project has massive potential to make a signifi cant dent in the city's environmental performance, as well as opening up a wealth of opportunities for innovation, manufacturing and low carbon transport," she says. NGN proposes to start the transition of its network to hydrogen following the competition of its iron mains replacement programme and says that the conversion of Leeds to run on 100% hydrogen gas could take place by 2026-29. Yet another recent report exploring the contribution of gas to a more balanced view of our low carbon future was published by KPMG on 12 July. The report was commissioned by the Energy Networks Association and found that adapting existing gas distribution and transmission assets to carry The conversion area in Leeds has an annual yearly gas demand of 678MW And a maximum peak yearly demand of 732MW The conversion area has a maximum peak hour demand of 3,180MW And a peak day average demand of 2,067MW The means a total average yearly demand of 5.9TWh And a total peak year demand of 6.4TWh Production of hydrogen is proposed via Steam Methane Reformers located at Teeside. This plant would be fi tted with 90% carbon capture and storage Worldwide hydrogen production using this methodology is currently 50 million tonnes per annum Interday and interseasonal storage of hydrogen could be provided by repurposed salt caverns in the proposed area of conversion A hydrogen transmission system connected to these caverns would be capable of supplying at least the peak requirement of 3,180MW 4 5 3 1 2 678MW Gas network evolution cheapest way to decarbonise heat green gases could cost £104 billion to £122 billion by 2050. This could be at least £34 billion cheaper than alternative methods of decarbonising heat in the UK. Like National Grid's Future Energy Scenarios, the KPMG report uses four scenarios for gas future to establish its conclusions. 5.9TWh 3,180MW