Partners: Wales & West Utilities, Kiwa Gastec, Amec Foster Wheeler

Funding: Network Innovation Allowance (NIA)

In July 2016, the H21 Leeds City Gate report was launched in Westminster. Using England’s fourth largest city as a blueprint, this pioneering feasibility study, led by Northern Gas Networks, confirmed that conversion of the UK gas network to 100% hydrogen was both technically possible and could be delivered at a realistic cost.

It provided evidence that the UK gas networks are the correct capacity to be converted to 100% hydrogen, low carbon hydrogen could be credibly sourced at scale, conversion of UK cities could be achieved incrementally, appliances could be converted to operate on 100% hydrogen, and hydrogen could be stored to manage intraday and inter-seasonal swings in demand.

The headline design parameters for a city the size of Leeds are:

• Hydrogen would be provided through a production capacity of 1,025 MW via 4 off 256 MW steam methane reformers (SMRs) located at Teesside due to its access to carbon capture and storage (CCS)

• Total annual demand in a peak year would be 6.4 TWh

• Intraday storage of circa 4,000 MWh will be provided via salt caverns on Teesside

• Inter-seasonal storage of 700,000 MWh will be provided through salt caverns in the Humber region

• 1.5m tonnes of CO2 would be sequestered each year

• The total cost to convert Leeds including hydrogen production and storage, all associated infrastructure and appliance conversions would be in the region of £2bn

Leeds City Gate also provided a financing methodology minimising impact on UK customers’ bills, taking advantage of the natural expenditure profile of the UK gas industry and its established financing methodology.

Watch the H21 Leeds City Gate film here

Downloads

H21 Leeds City Gate Report H21 Leeds City Gate Report

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