As Phase 1 of the HyDeploy project nears completion in July 2020, Dan Green, Rob Butler and Mark Rowley provide a brief introduction to this exciting, and potentially transformative, hydrogen project.

HyDeploy is the first project in the UK to inject hydrogen into the natural gas network.  It aims to demonstrate that hydrogen (at up to 20% by volume) can be safely blended into the natural gas distribution system without disruption to customers and without prejudicing the safety of end users. 

The 20% hydrogen blend that is being tested is the highest in Europe, together with a similar project being run by ENGIE in Northern France. It is one of a limited number of global projects demonstrating hydrogen’s potential as a blended gas for combustion.

If deployed at scale in the UK, hydrogen blending at 20% by volume could remove 6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per annum, which would be equivalent to removing 2.5 million cars from the road. 

HyDeploy is a three-phase project, as follows:

a) Phase 1: live ten-month trial of blended hydrogen into the Keele University private gas network (ending July 2020); 

b) Phase Two: live trial of blended hydrogen in the UK’s North Eastern Gas Network delivering to more than 650 homes and several business (from December 2020); and

c) Phase Three: live trial of blended hydrogen in the UK’s North Western Gas Network (anticipated 2021).

Participants and stakeholders in the hydrogen and natural gas sectors eagerly await the results of Phase 1 of the project (which are expected in summer 2020), as this will be an indicator of how hydrogen blending will perform when rolled out to the wider network and the practical considerations (if any) that participants and stakeholders may need to address. Following the results of Phase 1 and subject to approval from the Health and Safety Executive, Phase 2 of HyDeploy is expected to commence later this year.

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