The joint workshop by Mission Innovation and IPHE in Chester was the Kick-Off event for activities within the focus area ‘Hydrogen in the gas grid’ of Mission Innovation IC#8. As link to other international hydrogen initiatives, IPHE was co-hosting the workshop for Regulation, codes and standards related topics.
Over 30 participants gathered, representing governments, industry and research community from eight countries and jurisdictions, which include Australia, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.
The timing for this debate reflects the significant interest materializing globally around the potential of hydrogen in the gas grid. The discussions from the workshop will shape the direction of the focus area under the next phase of Mission Innovation.
Market deployment of hydrogen technologies requires adequate infrastructure to transmit and distribute hydrogen from where it is produced to where it is used.
Business models for dedicated hydrogen pipelines strongly depend on the availability of industry applications for hydrogen and market demand. High-capacity pipelines are likely to be the cheapest way to transport hydrogen in the future, but we can accelerate market deployment by leveraging on existing infrastructures.
Depending on the starting conditions such as end-use applications existing grids can be used for blending hydrogen into natural gas by introducing small amounts of hydrogen. As large volumes of natural gas are traded on a global scale, blending hydrogen in the gas grid provides a huge opportunity for hydrogen.
The workshop discussed the challenges and benefits of blending hydrogen in existing natural gas pipelines as a short-term solution; and converting existing natural gas pipelines or constructing dedicated hydrogen pipelines as mid to long-term solutions.
More information on the workshop can be found here.