Pipeline to the future
Project overview
At present, 85% of UK homes use natural gas, a fossil fuel and non-renewable resource, for cooking and heating, with the gas burned by households, businesses and industry totalling 37% of the country’s CO2 emissions. If the government is to achieve its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the nation must dramatically reduce its reliance on natural gas.
2000 homes and business would be involved in Redcar’s 100% hydrogen power community
One solution is hydrogen, which can be used in place of natural gas and produces no CO2 at the point of use. This more sustainable source of energy is not new to the UK: before the country’s switch to natural gas in the 1960s and 1970s, it was powered by ‘towns gas’, which comprised up to 50% hydrogen. Many appliances today are still capable of using a mixture of natural gas and up to 20% hydrogen, so the use of blended hydrogen may provide an easy way to reduce emissions in the short term. A pilot project has now been completed to heat 700 homes in Gateshead by using such a blend of gases. Residents have reported that there was no difference using the gas when it contained low carbon hydrogen.
But to achieve rapid progress towards decarbonisation, natural gas would eventually have to be phased out altogether. Switching to electric power could make up some of the shortfall, but with 70% of heat currently generated by burning gas and over 40% of electricity generated by using natural gas, closing the gap through that means alone would be challenging. While onsite renewable sources such as solar panels and energy-efficient heating methods, such as heat pumps, may be used to power detached houses, retrofitting them in dense urban areas and blocks of flats is fraught with problems.
70% of heat generated comes from gas in the UK
The UK government is exploring the option of repurposing the gas network to transport 100% hydrogen, and energy industry regulator Ofgem is funding a suite of projects led by Northern Gas Networks under the H21 banner to demonstrate that the transformation is technically possible, economically viable and safe. In 2021, the energy regulator invited a shortlist of gas networks from across the UK to submit plans to create the first ‘hydrogen village’ of up to 2000 homes and businesses, which would be heated by hydrogen from 2025 onward.
Once the design phase is complete, and if approval is granted, preparation will begin for the switchover to go live in 2025
From heavy industry heartland to hotbed of green tech
In the mid-19th century, the coming of the railway and the discovery of ironstone in the Cleveland Hills overlooking Cleveland and Teesside heralded the radical transformation of the local landscape. About 90 blast furnaces had been built by 1876, producing the steel for Sydney Harbour Bridge, among other famed structures. They also produced materials to supply a thriving shipbuilding sector, while large deposits of rock salt served to underpin the establishment of the chemicals industry.
Over the past 40 years, deindustrialisation has swept away much of that heritage. The demolition of the famous Redcar blast furnace – once the second biggest in Europe – on 23 November 2022 was symbolic of the end of an era. Now, the district is being repositioned as a heartland of the UK’s green industrial revolution.
Possible uses of hydrogen in the Teesside area
At the former steelworks site, now known as Teesworks, SeAH Wind is building a £400M factory making monopiles, the giant steel tubes that form the foundations for offshore wind turbines. The same site will accommodate Net Zero Teesside, a carbon capture, utilisation and storage facility, as well as energy company EDF’s green-hydrogen production plant, which will power the Redcar hydrogen community. Meanwhile, BP has announced plans to develop H2 Teesside – the UK’s largest blue-hydrogen production facility.
Pressure to succeed
Two proposals were chosen to progress toward detailed planning: Redcar Hydrogen Community on Teesside in the northeast of England and the Whitby, Ellesmere Port, hydrogen village in the north-west. One, or possibly both, of the projects are slated to get the go-ahead from the government in 2023.
At Redcar, the plan proposed by the north of England’s gas distributor, Northern Gas Networks (NGN), involves switching about 2000 homes and businesses in parts of the town to hydrogen, with the majority being generated locally from renewable sources and delivered via existing pipes. Hydrogen appliances to replace gas boilers, fires and cookers would be installed free of charge for the area’s residents and businesses. NGN has set up a ‘hydrogen home’ exemplar project near Gateshead to demonstrate how the new appliances work, and a public consultation is under way.
This is quite a different way of working, where we are leading the client by drawing on our experience from upstream oil and gas processing to figure out what we need to be doing.Hagen Stewart
Senior mechanical engineer
The area was selected because of its proximity to proposed hydrogen production and storage facilities on Teesside. Our team has been commissioned by NGN to design the high-pressure hydrogen infrastructure to supply the community, carrying the gas from producers, compressing and storing it, and then reducing the pressure again so that it is safe for the distributor to pipe to customers.
The area benefits from proximity to proposed hydrogen production and storage facilities
We are very much aware that this could impact people’s views on the feasibility of hydrogen for heating homes.Lead pipeline engineer
Members of the design team have a keen sense of their responsibility to ensure that such a high-profile exemplar project succeeds – and that it’s seen to do so. “Engaging with the local community is absolutely key,” says lead pipeline engineer David Fulton. “We are very much aware that this could impact people’s views on the feasibility of hydrogen for heating homes, and therefore possibly also the government’s decision on the approach that they will take for the next 50 years or more.”
Supply chain knowledge
Our team was selected by NGN not only because of its technical excellence, but also its local knowledge, gleaned through its work on several historical and ongoing energy-infrastructure projects in the area. These include the Breagh gas pipeline, which was installed 10 years ago, and the Net Zero Teesside carbon capture and storage facility, for which David is also designing the pipeline gathering network.
I don’t think any other engineering firm has such comprehensive knowledge of the projects that are being delivered across Teesside.Lead pipeline engineer
“We have worked with most of the operators and stakeholders in the area,” he says. “There are several initiatives being designed concurrently with various hydrogen, natural gas, CO2 and nitrogen pipelines that will run along the same service corridors, both below and above ground. We can help make sure that they are communicating with each other so that the routes don’t clash. I don’t think any other engineering firm has such comprehensive knowledge of the projects that are being delivered across Teesside.”
With a raft of UK and European hydrogen power projects likely to come online in the next few years, we need to advise the client on potential supply chain constraints, says Mott MacDonald’s process team leader Alicia Bahler. “The supply chain is not yet geared up to supply the electrolysers that will be used to separate the hydrogen from water [see explainer], and also the compressors and dehydration units that will be required,” she notes. The team has produced a report outlining the timeline for placing equipment orders and identifying potential procurement pinch points.
Commercial level metering, so that producers and distributors know how much hydrogen has been supplied and paid for, is a further problem for the client. It may be some time before fiscal standard hydrogen metering equipment is developed that is as accurate as that available for measuring natural gas; in the meantime, that complicates contractual negotiations between NGN and its hydrogen suppliers.
A new kind of supply network
“This is a unique network because it is a micro-grid in its own right,” says David. In the national natural gas network, storage is provided by the large volume of the high pressure pipelines spanning the country. However, in Redcar, with a far less extensive network of pipes, the hydrogen community will be fed by an innovative combination of underground and above-ground storage facilities.
Supply routes in the wider region
Because of its small size, it will have less built-in resilience. “That means if something goes wrong, and you start to over-pressurise the network, you need to be able to react in minutes rather than weeks, to ensure continuity of supply,” observes David. As such, established gas standards and practices need to be re-evaluated in the context of Redcar’s unique setup.
We are going back to first principles with the process design, looking at how the distribution network and the process plant affect what the gas will do, and whether the existing standards are still applicable in the same way.Lead pipeline engineer
“We are going back to first principles with the process design, looking at how the distribution network and the process plant affect what the gas will do, and whether the existing standards are still applicable in the same way,” he says. “Do we have enough storage? If something goes wrong with any of the elements of the design, how much resilience do we have? How can we boost that? Will the safety systems all work together at the level we require? That is one of the areas where we are really adding value, using the expertise of the team to come up with something that will work, and work safely.”
The underground storage for hydrogen is located locally within an existing artificial salt cavern, where a number of such caverns were hollowed out over past decades by injecting pressurised water into underground salt deposits and then pumping out the brine solution to leave cavities that could be used to store chemicals. Power companies will produce green hydrogen by electrolysing water to split off hydrogen atoms, using energy generated by offshore wind farms. The hydrogen will be pressurised and pumped into the cavern, which will store up to 110t at a maximum pressure of 70 bar, falling to about 30 bar at minimum capacity.
110t of hydrogen to be stored in an underground cavern at full capacity
There will be residual brine within the chamber, so after the hydrogen is pumped out, it will need to be dehydrated to remove water and depressurised to 30 bar, ready for transfer to above-ground storage containers. A potential challenge is that within the damp, hydrogen-filled environment, microbial activity could produce highly corrosive hydrogen sulphide, which might require removal. However, at present, research is showing that it would be in such low concentrations that it is unlikely to present a problem, notes David.
Above-ground storage is the next staging point in the hydrogen’s journey to the user. Pressurised storage tanks at the Teesworks site will contain up to 10t of the gas, providing sufficient capacity to ensure continuity of supply to cover day-to-day fluctuations in demand. The team has carefully calculated the relationship between supply and demand to ensure that the hydrogen supply doesn’t run out on a cold winter’s evening, which would potentially be disastrous for public perceptions of the project.
Initially, it had been thought that the salt cavern storage would be filled to capacity during the summer months, providing supply for the winter when demand for heating is higher. But long-term wind patterns suggest that because the wind is less likely to blow on summer days, the balance between long- and short-term storage may be more complex and volatile than expected, and this will require further research by the design team in collaboration with wind power specialists in our energy team.
With no off-the-shelf solutions available, we have to combine our oil and gas expertise with know-how on the use of hydrogen in an industrial setting, and the equipment needed to do that.Hagen Stewart
Senior mechanical engineer
“With natural gas pipelines, usually you can just rely on the fact that you have an infinite volume of gas upstream. That mix between the process, pipeline, and transmission design is what sets Mott MacDonald apart from other companies, as we apply our oil and gas expertise and not just look at it from a grid perspective,” says Mott MacDonald’s senior mechanical engineer, Hagen Stewart.
He adds: “With no off-the-shelf solutions available, the technical challenge means we have to combine our oil and gas expertise with know-how on the use of hydrogen in an industrial setting, and the equipment needed to do that. It is about bringing those two things together so that we are really rigorous in making sure that everything is safe for use with hydrogen, and that it will actually work in practice.”
Meanwhile, the project is providing a unique opportunity to develop the next generation of skills for the sector. Graduate process engineer Javier Brown, for one, did not expect to embark on such an important project so soon after leaving university. “As the project goes on, I can see how much of an influence it might have on the energy industry,” he reflects. “For a young engineer who hasn’t yet developed a specialist expertise, being involved with hydrogen, as it’s really starting to pick up, is an exciting experience. In the future, many more homes may be powered by hydrogen – and I will be able to say that I was involved in the design of the UK’s first hydrogen community.”
Explainer: hydrogen production techniques
Green hydrogen
Produced using electrolysis powered by renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, while releasing the oxygen into the air.
Blue hydrogen
Made from reforming natural gas, with the carbon captured and stored underground to reduce emissions.
Grey hydrogen
Produced by reforming natural gas, while releasing CO2 emissions into the air.