Right across the construction industry, the coming months, years and decades are set to bring a variety of further switches towards more sustainable and environmentally-conscious practices and technologies.
Among those changes will be a number of significant shifts for the gas industry in particular, as long-term plans for a transition to cleaner hydrogen supplies begin to take shape.
Where is the gas industry currently?
Realistically, a 100% hydrogen gas supply in the UK is still some way off—though notable progress has already been made and the solution is widely backed by both experts and government to replace natural gas.
Right now, work is being undertaken to create a long-term infrastructure that uses entirely hydrogen supplies in our homes and businesses, as opposed to the damaging natural gases that still dominate the majority of our energy supplies. To make this possible, there’s trialling of ‘blended’ gas supplies and most new boilers are already being built to a ‘hydrogen ready’ standard.
Signs of progress
The government recently put nearly £10m worth of funding behind a project to produce and store hydrogen at the UK’s largest onshore wind farm near Glasgow. According to January’s edition of Registered Gas Engineer, The Whitelee Green Hydrogen Project will deliver the nation’s largest electrolyser—a system that converts water into hydrogen which can then be used to supply transport providers with zero-carbon fuel.
Along with that, Northern Gas Networks has already started supplying 20% hydrogen blended gas on a public network to 668 homes and a primary school. Now in the revolutionary scheme’s second phase, the HyDeploy Project has so far continued delivering energy to customers without any disruption.
The report also highlights how Cadent is planning a new pipeline that will carry hydrogen supplies to industrial users and power generators across the North West of England. Not only will this new system provide 100% hydrogen, it will also connect to a series of blending stations, allowing these blended supplies to be added to the existing gas network.
Finally, BP has unveiled plans to build a large-scale hydrogen production facility in Teeside in 2025. This is expected to cement the region as the UK’s first major hydrogen transport hub, playing a crucial role in helping decarbonise heavy transport, air travel, rail and ports.
New standards to be laid out
As these shifts become more commonplace, Energy & Utility Skills have teamed up with IGEM to develop a new set of standards and training frameworks for domestic, commercial and industrial hydrogen gas installation.
These standards will cover safely repurposing existing gas systems for use with hydrogen supplies, echoing our prediction that current gas engineers will have a significant role to play in making the transition possible.
As part of this process, IGEM will also assess ongoing hydrogen research to update the IGEM/H/1 Hydrogen Reference Standard and create two brand new standards that cover both domestic and non-domestic scenarios. Following this, Energy & Utility Skills will finalise the new training framework by September 2023.
Are you interested in a career in gas? The Able Skills New Entrant Gas Training Package is our most in-depth course and is perfect for anyone with no prior experience in the industry. Need a little more information? Give us a call on 01322 280 202, request a brochure or drop by our training centre for a chat.