East Coast Hydrogen

We can't continue to use natural gas to fuel our homes and businesses, as the carbon emissions are too great, but we rely on having a gaseous energy vector when we need it for home heating, power generation and industrial use. In the winter, gas use can be 3.5 times higher than electricity use, which means that it is vital for us to be able to store energy as a gas over the summer and deploy it when demand soars in the winter. We can't control when the wind blows or the sun shines, but we can use excess renewable energy to create hydrogen through electrolysis, storing it in vast salt caverns for later use. We know that hydrogen is essential to reach net zero, and re-purposing our gas networks to hydrogen will allow us to transport the hydrogen to where it is needed.

Cadent are working with Northern Gas Networks and National Grid on East Coast Hydrogen, a 15-year programme to transition the natural gas network to hydrogen in the East Midlands and North East.

By the end of the programme, which is currently at feasibility stage, low-carbon hydrogen produced in the Humber region will reach up to 1.47 million homes and 28,000 large gas users in the East Midlands Region, as well reaching Northern Gas Network's customers in the North East. Hydrogen will fuel heavy industrial equipment such as kilns and refineries, heavy transport such as trains and HGVs, and will also be used to heat our homes and cook with. When renewable generation is low, hydrogen stored in the gas networks and salt caverns will be used to generate electricity too.