By 2023, the government hopes to use clean, green hydrogen fuel to heat an entire town in the UK.
A hydrogen pipeline could be installed in homes in a similar manner to how conventional gas is currently delivered to homes. A pilot project that seeks funding and explores the potential of hydrogen heating systems on various scales, including entire towns, has been invited by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to help achieve this goal.
According to the Green Industrial Revolution plan, hydrogen heating experiments would begin in a nearby neighborhood by 2023, followed by a large-scale village trial in 2025 and a town-sized pilot scheme by 2030 as part of a timeframe.
Hydrogen Heating Town pilot: open letter to Gas Distribution Networks
Guidance to Gas Distribution Network (GDN) operators on applying for funding to support the preparation of outline plans for a potential pilot hydrogen heated town.
Details
This is a letter invites Gas Distribution Network (GDN) Operators to propose outline planning projects for areas of their gas networks which would potentially be suitable for early conversion to hydrogen.
This work will contribute to development of plans for a possible pilot hydrogen heated town by 2030, one of the milestones in the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. The letter provides guidance to the gas network operators on what should be included in outline plans, and how to apply for funding from BEIS to contribute to the costs of developing them.
As set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the government will make strategic decisions in 2026 about the role of hydrogen in heating.
To inform those decisions the government is working with GDNs and others on a wide range of R&D, testing and trials projects, to assess the feasibility, costs and benefits of using low carbon hydrogen for heating in place of natural gas.
Planning work is required now to deliver plans by 2025 for a possible pilot hydrogen town, so that, should hydrogen become part of our decarbonisation pathway in 2026, we are well prepared to begin roll out.
Letter of invitation for proposals
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