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NETWORK / 28 / APRIL 2018 been carried out on a range of common household gas ap- pliances as well as extensive research on the effects of hydro- gen on the different materials found on the gas pipe network. "We're building a body of evidence in conjunction with customers that we can then put in front of HSL to demonstrate that we have a safety case for blended hydrogen across the UK," remarked Parkin. Keele has the largest uni - versity campus in the UK with 12,000 students and staff. With 350 mixed-use buildings, the campus provides domestic prop- erties, university facilities and a science park, giving the campus a profile similar to the size of a small town. "So far we've developed a site agreement, which allows us to build our infrastructure on site," continues Parkin. "We've secured agreement from the ethics committee to engage with homeowners. The starting point of the process is to go to every individual home on campus – around 100 – with a range of different blends of bottled gas. We flow the bottled gas through their appliances at high hydrogen concentrations to as - sess individual appliances. It's only when we've done this on the entire network that we then start to introduce hydrogen into the actual pipe network, aŒer we've checked each individual appliance. That's how we en - sure that customers understand what we're doing, that they're onboard with it and that it's safe." Although 'Town' gas, used in the UK gas network until the 1970s, was made up of up to 60% hydrogen, HyDeploy will be the first time many of the customers at Keele University will have experienced using hydrogen for energy in their homes. Horsley believes that manag - ing customers' expectations is key. "I remember my grandpar- ents' house being converted in the late 1960s. Town gas was called 'derived gas', which was close to 50 per cent hydrogen at that time. When they moved to natural gas there was a concern from engineers that it would be more unsafe. "Engaging with customers in this and putting them at the heart of everything we're doing is so important for them to gain an understanding of what we're putting in as a new technology." Horsley is confident about the capabilities of hydrogen remarking that it could support industry and transport as well as domestic customers. The low carbon agenda The Committee on Climate Change believes UK heating must be virtually zero-carbon by 2050. Many experts see hydrogen as an adaptable alternative to fossil fuels because when it is burned it doesn't produce CO2, just water and heat. "All the technology around the production of hydrogen is proven," Horsley told Network. "More than anything else there's much greater customer aware - ness looking at the low carbon future. People's attitudes have changed. They really want to look for a low carbon future. There's almost an acceptance of it providing we can convince our customers that it's equally as safe as the existing full meth - ane that we have. This step- ping stone of up to 20 per cent hydrogen impregnation into the methane is a nice confidence builder for that process. "Customers will always ask how much it's going to cost. Any form of decarbonisation is going to cost money, but we believe this will be a cheaper more eco- nomic alternative than an old electric solution for heat." Parkin believes that HyDe- ploy is an important stepping stone to wider deployment of clean, cost-effective hydrogen that can keep homes warm, fuel vehicles and power industry. He said: "The vast major- ity of emissions reductions that the UK has delivered have been through electricity. We've successfully turned off coal stations, built a lot of new offshore wind, new solar – but to a certain extent we are as a nation running out of road on the amount of electricity decar - bonisation we can continue to deliver. "The much harder challenge is heat and transport. Heat is particularly difficult because it's individual companies needing to make choices about how they utilise heat. That's why a network-based solution like repurposing of the gas net - work with a low carbon fuel is probably the most economic, practical and politically accept- able, because it can minimise customer disruption." The pair believe that the re- sults of HyDeploy could provide a platform for a trial on a public network, and wider roll out. The last word goes to Hors - ley: "We should feel immensely proud that the UK is leading on this. There's so much interna- tional interest in what we're doing in hydrogen. It is a fan- tastic opportunity for the UK to demonstrate the skills it has, the technology available and how we can make this a success." A monitor attached to a boiler, during a test run of a hydrogen/natural gas blend. David Parkin, director of safety and network strategy at Cadent. Mark Horsley, CEO of Northern Gas Networks. INNOVATION