08/08/2018
The H21 project has taken an exciting step forward in the last few weeks, as construction of the test sites at Buxton and Spadeadam got underway.
The H21 NIC project, when delivered in full, will have undertaken an experimental testing programme providing the necessary data to quantify comparative risk between a 100% hydrogen network and the existing natural gas network.
This information is required for the UK to make a policy decision on decarbonisation of heat in the early 2020s, allowing for live trials to progress in 2020/2021 when combined with results of the BEIS Hy4Heat programme. This is examining hydrogen’s use ‘downstream of the meter’, in buildings and appliances.
Phase 1b involves controlled testing trials at the DNV-GL research centre at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria. DNV-GL /NGN will conduct around 1,000 tests to look at various characteristics of how hydrogen behaves in comparison to our current fuel, natural gas. The development of the Master Test Plan has defined a set of four experimental work packages, each with distinct build, experimental and analysis / reporting phases: