Scope: This proposed Discovery Phase Project will focus on how future deployments of Advanced Nuclear Technologies (ANTs) for hydrogen and electricity generation can best be integrated into Gas and Electricity Transmission Systems, providing a constant supply of low-carbon hydrogen for consumers. It will consider approaches for accomplishing this based on cost-effectiveness, security of energy supply and assisting the achievement of Net Zero targets.
Themes: The project touches on several Whole System Integration themes, but particularly:
- Coordinating energy transmission, distribution and system operation across gas and electricity: Nuclear power has been an essential contributor to the UK energy mix. As existing nuclear capacity is retired, there is the opportunity to design and deploy emerging technologies to support cogeneration, improving the resilience of both the energy grid.
- Future policy and regulatory conditions as well as market designs to support whole system approaches: Outputs from the project will directly support future policy decision and shape regulatory frameworks. These can help with the deployment and integration of ANTs to support the whole energy system.
Whole Systems Innovation: This project will support rapid decarbonisation for both consumers and UK businesses, notably in heavy industry, residential and transportation. This study will assess the potential location of future nuclear by balancing a series of logistical factors such as cost to the consumer, hydrogen throughput, regulatory hurdles, reliability, and availability of hydrogen transport.
Project Partners: Because this project focuses on the interface between nuclear, gas and electricity, it requires a whole-system approach, and a set of partners to reflect that. Our consortium consists of gas and electricity transmission and distribution network operators, the electricity system operator (ESO) and two energy generators. Several other energy network licensees (the energy system operator and the gas distribution network's), have also expressed a keen interest in outputs from the project, with a desire to become involved in later projects.
- Energy Networks: Energy network licensee's include National Grid Gas Transmission Network (NGGT) as leading project partner, with National Grid Gas Transmission Network (NGET), National Grid ESO and Northern Gas Networks (NGN).
- Generators: Rolls-Royce and URENCO.
- Industry Experts: Frazer-Nash Consultancy is a leading systems and engineering consultancy with extensive energy system expertise, and broad network of relevant supporting stakeholders. Frazer-Nash has been identified to undertake the Discovery Phase implementation, as a technology agnostic collaborator performing independent assessments of the proposed whole system approach and the potential benefits for consumers.
VIDEO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQ1XhkwBpg&list=PLrMOhOrmeR6ktSag0RbT7zPNVn0p1P2f6&index=28
Problem Bring Solved
Context: Next generation nuclear reactors, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), collectively known as Advanced Nuclear Technologies (ANTs), can play a critical role in meeting the Government's published ambitions around future low-carbon hydrogen production and use, in addition to their electrical power output.
They offer two key benefits:
- High-grade output heat that can increase efficiency of hydrogen production via electrolysis.
- High availability of energy supply compared to intermittent renewables.
Both the Government's "Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution" (2020) and the Hydrogen Strategy (2021) identify the growth of low-carbon hydrogen as a key element in achieving net-zero. They also emphasise the role that next generation nuclear reactors could potentially play in unlocking efficient production of hydrogen.
Problem: The large quantities of hydrogen produced from future nuclear reactors will necessitate the use of pipelines to transport hydrogen to key industrial clusters, as well as more distributed end-users. This raises questions over how the existing National Transmission System (NTS) can be used to transport this hydrogen, and how, in turn, the NTS can enable the development of nuclear hydrogen production. R&D is being undertaken on the production of hydrogen from nuclear power, but there is a critical gap in knowledge around where best to site future nuclear-hydrogen production and the requirements on the NTS to transport this hydrogen to end-users. This project will address this gap. Through scenario modelling, it will consider current and future siting options for future nuclear-hydrogen production and how these could interface with the NTS.
Opportunity: Initially, we will define a set of end-user scenarios for low carbon hydrogen demand (including industrial clusters and key transport hubs). We will determine how future nuclear-hydrogen siting options, under current regulatory frameworks, can service this demand using the NTS and the benefits and barriers of developing this. We will then consider new credible siting options for nuclear-hydrogen production and determine the additional benefits these may provide to transporting hydrogen to the end-users, along with the greater challenges and barriers these new sites may present. In each case we will consider the regulatory, operational, engineering, commercial, social and wider energy systems issues.
This project will highlight how future nuclear-hydrogen production can be effectively interfaced with the NTS to deliver low carbon hydrogen to key end-users at scale. It will be key to the enabling and development of low carbon hydrogen production in the UK.
Impacts and benefits
Alpha Phase Decision
In discussion with project partners, it was determined that the project will not be progressing to Alpha Phase, as it may be premature to pursue a future demonstration project at Beta phase. However, the work completed is a necessary and valuable starting point in understanding how Advanced Nuclear Technologies (ANTs) which have cogeneration capabilities can be effectively integrated with the UK energy system. There are several areas of research and discovery still to be undertaken in this area, which will make future demonstration projects more viable.
Benefits
As a result of this project, energy system benefits and opportunities have been identified:
- Security of Supply: The project informs a transition to low carbon energy generation in the UK, especially poignant with the ongoing energy crisis significantly impacting consumer bills and the current dependency on importing energy from overseas. The ability to produce large quantities of hydrogen and electricity within the UK is a significant benefit, offering improved energy security and the opportunity to lowering consumer bills and as a result reducing the probability of falling into fuel poverty.
- Net Zero: This project has evaluated the impact of recent decisions from Government to amend policy, increasing UK hydrogen production to meet Net Zero emission targets. Integrating low-carbon hydrogen with the transmission network to allow for transmission and distribution of clean energy, has become more essential. This will support development of other low-carbon technologies for UK hydrogen production, incorporated as part of a robust and secure energy mix.
- Collaboration: The project has brought together energy system operators and ANT developers to explore the mutual barriers and benefits of cogeneration and to assess methodologies for determining where the optimal location would be to connect to the NTS.
- Network Capital Costs: The project has also demonstrated indicative results that suggest siting location, which have been optimized to reduce capital being spent by the NTS in building new infrastructure for connecting to the grid.
- Consumer Benefits: The project has characterised the potential of distributed nuclear generation connected to the NTS to increase the reliability of hydrogen provision, reduce the cost, and reduce consumers carbon footprint.
The project has also demonstrated benefits by assessing the influence that cogeneration sites can have on grid resilience, the economy, the levelling up agenda and public perception of safety. The project met the objectives through a combination of desktop research, stakeholder engagement and detailed analysis
