The trial

HyDeploy was not only the first trial of its kind in the UK – providing invaluable data and insights for policymakers and future trials – but also featured the highest concentration of hydrogen in a live gas network in Europe, highlighting the project’s scale and ambition.

Our journey to hydrogen blending goes hand-in-hand with our long-established sustainability mission. Beginning in the early to mid-2000s when we pursued a “Deep Green” agenda, our search for a sustainable, alternative energy source led to us to hydrogen, with our researchers studying many different facets such as the complexities and challenges of developing hydrogen combustion engines.

Hydrogen was also being explored by major energy stakeholders including Cadent and Northern Gas Networks, and our shared ambitions led to the formation of the HyDeploy consortium, which worked together to establish the first trial of hydrogen blending in a UK gas network.

Plans were laid to establish the necessary agreements to allow the blending to take place, and thanks to the hard work of all the partners involved, special permission was granted by the Health and Safety Executive’s Science Division, and the first of the hydrogen entered the network in 2019, continuing until the project ended in 2021.

Crucially, the trial demonstrated this process using “green” hydrogen, generated from environmentally beneficial sources or those with little to no impact on the environment, compared to “grey” or “blue” hydrogen, which is generated from sources with a far more damaging impact on the environment.

This trial used an electrolyser on campus to split water into oxygen and hydrogen molecules, with the hydrogen being blended with natural gas at the compound, before being carried away for use in our wider gas network. In total 42,000 cubic metres of hydrogen (up to 20%(vol)) were blended into the grid throughout the trial, and used to heat and supply 100 homes and 30 mixed-use buildings on campus, with no changes required to existing heating and cooking appliances. This is estimated to have saved 27 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

By demonstrating how hydrogen can drastically reduce the nation’s carbon footprint, we and our partners have not only proved it can be done practically, but also safely with no adverse impact on consumers, no changes needed to existing infrastructure, and no changes in consumer behaviour. The HyDeploy findings will be crucial for influencing national policy and investment and, put simply, mark a pivotal point for the green industrial revolution, by enabling us all to positively contribute to the environment with minimal changes to our everyday lives.  

The results from the HyDeploy project directly led to a further demonstration on a public gas network led by Northern Gas and Cadent. Without the findings from our initial project, which demonstrate the safety and viability of hydrogen blending, this follow-up trial would not have been possible, and the partners advocating to the UK Government in favour of hydrogen would have no foundation on which to rest their case. 

HyDeploy will be instrumental in shaping the Government’s strategy for a low-carbon economy, and with a decision on hydrogen blending due from the Government imminently, these findings will be crucial for rolling out a hydrogen blend more widely while minimising disruption to the public, representing an important milestone in the UK’s journey toward a hydrogen economy.