How trust makes the case for hydrogen home heating
Welcome to HyStreet
Why trust matters
Hydrogen will play a central role in our future energy mix. But before hydrogen can be used to decarbonize the energy supply to homes, its safety has to be assured.
What is the story?
Countries around the world depend on natural gas for heating and cooking but to meet global climate targets we need to decarbonize the energy system. Hydrogen is set to play a central role - 62% of senior energy professionals tell us that hydrogen will be a significant part of the energy mix by 2030.
The question is, is our legacy pipework suitable and safe as a delivery system for hydrogen?
To explore this, DNV has built ‘Hy Street’ at its testing and research facility in Cumbria. This row of ordinary-looking houses is actually a safety testing ‘laboratory’ for the UK Government’s Hy4Heat programme, which aims to establish if it is technically possible, safe, and convenient to replace natural gas with hydrogen in residential and commercial buildings and gas appliances.
Hydrogen is key to decarbonize our energy system
Watch this (3.40 min) BBC Storyworks video about why and how hydrogen is key to decarbonize our energy system.
From intention to policy
UK gas distributors are encouraging the UK Government to take the policy decision that hydrogen can be used as a low-carbon fuel for home heating. They want to repurpose their natural gas networks to transport hydrogen safely and effectively. This way, they can decarbonize their activities and support the UK’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
To be able to do that, we really need to be able to demonstrate that we have proved our safety case for hydrogen, and that it is as safe as natural gas.
Tim Harwood
Head of programme management
Northern Gas Network
Northern Gas Network (NGN) manage H21, a project for UK gas distributors. H21 is establishing the critical safety evidence needed to inform policy and prove that a hydrogen gas network is as safe as the natural gas grid heating UK homes.
