Using hydrogen to heat homes via the gas network could save more than £5 billion per year compared to relying on electric heat pumps to help achieve net zero targets, according to a study.
The paper, produced by academics at Imperial College London, found that the overall cost of using electric heating would be driven up by factors including the price of heat pumps and the sums needed to build sufficient wind and solar farms to heat homes that currently rely on gas.
The study was commissioned by Cadent, the gas distribution company, which is urging ministers to reject demands by the country’s infrastructure watchdog to shut down Britain’s gas network as part of plans to reach a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Tony Ballance, chief strategy and regulation officer at Cadent, said the firm was “not saying we don’t need an extensive roll-out of heat pump technology to people’s homes, but we need to keep options open for … people with gas boilers who are not looking, or can’t afford, to switch now”.
He added: “What we need now is to preserve a level of optionality in the choice that consumers might have, rather than try to enforce change right now.”
Mr Ballance called for Rishi Sunak to introduce regulations requiring manufacturers to produce “hydrogen-ready” boilers, just as the Government has introduced production quotas to boost the roll-out of heat pumps.
He said: “Why are we still installing boilers that won’t be ready to utilise hydrogen in due course when we could be installing boilers that, with a change of two or three parts, could burn hydrogen?”
Last month, Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), warned that the supply of natural gas to all buildings must stop by 2050 if the UK is to hit its climate targets.
He has urged the Prime Minister to commit to a total ban on gas boiler sales by 2035 and to set out how the national gas network will be shut down gradually over the next 27 years.
An assessment by the NIC dismissed calls for hydrogen to be piped into homes for heating and cooking, arguing it will saddle consumers with massive extra costs.
But the Government pushed back against the findings, insisting that the gas network would “always be part of our energy system” and that it was still exploring what role hydrogen will play.
Two potential scenarios
The Imperial College London study, entitled The Role and Value of Hydrogen in Future Zero-Carbon Great Britain’s Energy System, examined two potential scenarios: one of which involved relying solely on electric heating, and another that involved homes connected to the gas grid using hydrogen for their heating.
The study states that “full electrification of heat using heat pumps may not be a sole perfect solution” because of four factors, including the higher up-front costs of heat pumps compared to conventional boilers, the need for a vast increase in the amount of renewable energy generation such as from wind farms, and the need for back-up generation for cold days when there is little wind.
It adds: “In this context, as our analysis demonstrates, the employment of hydrogen in decarbonising energy systems, including heat to deliver a net-zero 2050 system, could provide up to £5.4bn/ year savings by 2050 in annual system costs compared to a full electrification pathway.”
Mr Ballance said that while “a good number of properties” will be suitable for heat pump installations, between a third and two thirds of homes could benefit from hydrogen boilers, including older houses.
Jon Butterworth, the chief executive of National Gas, has claimed that, of 29 million households, roughly 11 million cannot get a heat pump because they lack space for a water tank or are otherwise unsuitable. The NIC said one in 10 homes may be unsuitable.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it is working “with the industry to explore if using hydrogen offers value for money for consumers and meets the required safety standards”.
SOURCE: https://www.msn.com/
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