Learnings

Outcomes

Project outcomes have been shared with EPRG members via the Teams site, EPRG SharePoint and website. Further information sharing occurs during regular topic group and committee meetings and full group meetings such as the Plenary and Fracture Summit in December 2022. Additionally, research will be shared at events such as the PRCI organised Emerging Fuels Symposium in the USA in June 2023.

The project value tracking is listed below:

·       Maturity

o   TRL 2-5

·       Opportunity

o   Projects focus on pipeline assets

·       Deployment Costs 

o   No direct deployment costs expected.

·       Innovation Cost

o   £ 225,000

·       Financial Saving

o   Work could be supporting evidence to enable optimised network operation.

·       Safety

o   No direct safety benefits expected.

·       Environment

o   No direct environmental benefits expected.

·       Compliance

o   No direct compliance benefits expected.

·       Skills & Competencies

o   Work will augment knowledge of individuals involved in projects & meeting across the business.

·       Future Proof

o   Results will support operation of future hydrogen national transmission system.

The net benefits delivered so far are valuable detailed discussions on a large variety of topics related to the transition to hydrogen plus natural gas transmission. Ongoing EPRG projects on hydrogen will provide unique information regarding the performance of pipeline steels in gaseous hydrogen which will feed into future design and integrity management systems. With these forecasted benefits to be delivered in 2023-24.

Lessons Learnt

Recommendations for updates/creation of standards and/or follow-on projects have been made for the projects which have been concluded within this period.

There is a significant volume of work being undertaken by EPRG into hydrogen that is of value to National Gas and Cadent. Resource should be made available to fully exploit the learnings from projects and to more actively contribute to project definition and delivery. Projects run via EPRG are likely to represent better value for money compared to projects initiated directly by National Gas or Cadent and so should be pursued where appropriate.