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igem news

EVENTS

FIT FOR THE FUTURE

The Midlands Section hosts a showcase at IGEM House to raise Gas Alliance, which is driving the
the profile of innovation across the gas industry, reports Past Chair necessary changes. He added that there
of the Midlands Section Ben Kuchta is considerable funding available and
that a number of projects are underway
IN JANUARY, the Midlands Section involving gas, decarbonised gas and to support the future of gas.
hosted its second Innovation Showcase, an upscaled electricity system. So, if Ian McCluskey then presented
entitled The Future of Gas, to more than ever there was a case for innovation it ‘Engineering risks and uncertainties
70 delegates at IGEM House. is right now as we have this amazing of transitioning to hydrogen’. This
IGEM CEO Neil Atkinson opened the target to hit net zero by 2050.” presentation built on the cross-
evening, saying: “It’s great to see so many The event was led by three keynote professional engineering institution
people here this evening – a full room! speakers: Ian McCluskey, Head of collaboration between the Institution
That seems to be the case wherever I go at Technical Services & Policy at IGEM, of Chemical Engineers, Institution
the moment; very large rooms with lots of Corin Taylor, Principal Consultant at of Engineering and Technology,
people interested in this topic of transition. DNV GL, and John Baldwin, Managing Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the
“I’ve been to many meetings, events, Director of CNG Services. Health & Safety Laboratory and IGEM.
conferences and roundtables in the The evening started with Corin Ian’s presentation provided
last year and a half where the mood Taylor presenting ‘Meeting net zero confirmation that low and medium
in the room is definitely changing. For emissions in the UK with decarbonised pressure gas networks can be repurposed
example, at the Carbon Capture and gas’. Corin gave a compelling overview for use with hydrogen, as can most
Storage Association meeting last year – of the carbon reductions the industry existing gas infrastructure. However, the
carbon capture has been off and on for has made over the past 30 years, setting gas turbine generation industry, including
a long time – the whole mood around the precedent for future targets across services and domestic applications, will
carbon capture had changed. That really home heating, transport and industry. need to transition.
helps the economics of hydrogen, which It was made clear that the UK’s gas We then explored how well hydrogen
we’ll be talking about this evening. system is the biggest energy carrier and compares to other low carbon
“Government, BEIS in particular, is that decarbonisation of the industry technologies for household heating
really driving some of those important will be supported by biomethane, and how H₂ can be produced in large
agendas for us around decarbonising hydrogen and carbon capture. However, quantities through reformation or
heat. How are we going to do that? such a future can’t be achieved without electrolysis. Ian stated that at this stage
That’s the question for the people in the support of the electricity industry “any proposal to deploy hydrogen at scale
this room. And it’s going to require a working collaboratively across all fronts will need to be sufficiently compelling
lot of innovation moving forward, so to meet net zero targets. to compensate for the lack of experience
that’s a really tough challenge as we To finish, Corin described the and the accelerated timescale”.
move towards a smart energy system concerted effort from the Decarbonised A number of projects to evaluate the

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