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the heat is on

become obsolete and new solutions are Tests will be carried out jointly by “The location of the site at the heart
likely to be needed. There will be some NGN engineers, who will be seconded of Teesside’s industrial cluster will
great opportunities for innovation in from their work on the gas network, galvanise the region as the perfect
everything from PPE to tools.” closely supervised by a team of four location for a growing hydrogen
experts from DNV GL and with technical economy and the resulting prosperity
THE NEXT STEP: UNOCCUPIED TRIAL ON A NETWORK input from HSE-SD. and employment opportunities this
The next part of Phase 2 of the H21 could generate.
project will see trials on an unused “We have support from the “We have support from the local
section of the gas network in the local MP and Mayor, as they MP and Mayor, as they recognise the
South Bank area of Middlesbrough. potential of hydrogen and we hope to
NGN has secured the lease of the site recognise the potential of educate local schools about the benefits
from Redcar and Cleveland Council hydrogen and we hope to of a hydrogen future and the potential
and will carry out several months educate local schools about role it has to play in supporting the
of rigorous testing on an isolated the benefits of a hydrogen transition to a low carbon energy future.”
part of the network, once planning
consent is secured. future and the potential role OUTCOMES
The site, incorporating Pym Street it has to play in supporting Every conclusion and piece of evidence
and part of Cromwell Road, formally the transition to a low carbon drawn from the H21 project moves
housed around 70 terraced homes and energy future” the UK closer to realising the vision of
was deemed ideal for its likeness to a a 100 per cent zero carbon hydrogen
typical UK residential area. The houses network. Plans are now being
were demolished around a decade Natural gas will be decommissioned from developed for H21 Phase 3, a small-
ago but, as the underground network the pipes and replaced with hydrogen. scale demonstration to take place in
has since been untouched, the gas Key procedures will then be interrogated 2022. This would involve supplying
infrastructure and other utilities, along including venting and purging, under 100 per cent hydrogen to around 100
with the carriageways and footpaths pressure drilling, live repairs, dead and homes on a public gas network.
remain intact. live insertions, new connections, flow The H21 co-ordinated work
The trials will provide further vital stops and network modelling. programme brings together the very best
evidence about the compatibility of A hydrogen boiler will be onsite and brains and engineers in the gas industry.
the existing gas network to distribute fed by the network to demonstrate that The collaborative nature of the project
hydrogen. Every operation reviewed by a clean gas boiler can perform as well is avoiding a replication in research by
the HSE-SD and tested at Spadeadam as a natural gas boiler, while replicating different gas distribution networks and
will be replicated at the South Bank site. the look and feel of the boilers already minimising the investment and resulting
NGN will initially spend three months installed in 85 per cent of UK homes cost to the customer.
modifying the site by isolating existing connected to the gas network. Ultimately the project’s numerous
pipework and laying new pipework NGN Project Manager Neil Travers findings will be fed into government to
to create a loop. The pipes currently explains more about the trial: “Previous influence a policy decision about the
run from the front to the back of the phases of work have involved taking our future of hydrogen.
site but, by laying additional mains to assets to a facility to be tested with hydrogen.
form a loop, flows can be measured as The South Bank project brings hydrogen For more information about the H21
hydrogen returns to the network. to a live gas network for the first time. programme, visit www.h21.green

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