Learnings

Outcomes

No physical appliance development work was directly overseen or funded over the previous two years as part of the HVT projects. However, valuable insights on appliances and use-cases were gathered through surveys of over 1,500 domestic properties and 180 commercial properties (across both Whitby and Redcar). Relationships were established and developed with around 30 individual appliance and component manufacturers, and trade bodies, to discuss the products encountered during the surveys.
The work to date has concluded that the maturity of hydrogen appliances required to support trials and/or rollout varies significantly by type:
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domestic and commercial wet heating systems (boilers), of certain outputs and configurations, are at suitable maturity. Some of these appliances are limited in their application (for example, are not compatible with commercial shared flue systems). Manufacturers have pointed to policy uncertainty as a blocker to further development, with some withdrawing their support for the village trial over the course of the project.
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ancillary components (including meters) are sufficiently mature for domestic settings. Non-domestic meters of limited configuration/capacity are also suitably mature. Non-domestic ancillary components require further definition to confirm whether the existing supply chain is sufficiently mature.
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‘secondary’ domestic appliances (such as cookers and fires) are not sufficiently mature. Prototypes were developed in Hy4Heat, but further development to market ready products has not been conducted since. Market trends suggest that demand for domestic gas ovens & grills is already shrinking in favour of electrical products, although gas hobs & fires remain popular. Further work is required to gauge consumer sentiment on these products, and whether they would be required for successful trials and rollout. Electrical alternatives are readily available for these appliances.
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some more ‘common’ commercial hydrogen appliance types for catering (including range cookers, grills, chargrills, and fryers) and dry space heating (including cabinet and radiant tube heaters) were developed as prototypes in Hy4Heat, and the manufacturers involved have expressed interest in further developing their products to be market ready, with external funding. Hydrogen alternatives may be required longer-term for these appliances, due to the potential difficulty in their electrification (e.g. high output or requirement for naked flames).
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more ‘niche’ non-domestic appliance types, such as specialised catering (including wok burners, tandoori ovens, and kebab grills) and non-standard applications (such a gas-fired tumble dryers) are yet to be demonstrated at prototype maturity, having not formed part of the Hy4Heat scope.
The experience of the Appliance Working Group suggests that over two years should be expected for an appliance development programme, including testing and certification, to achieve trial-ready appliances. This does not include manufacturer engagement or tendering processes. The village trial would not have created a ‘complete’ hydrogen appliance supply chain, as the development to enable a trial in any given location would invariably have sought to develop appliances encountered in that trial location - which would naturally be different to any appliances encountered in other locations.
Presently, the hydrogen appliance supply chain is not sufficiently mature or available to enable an occupied trial at village, town, or rollout scale. The work to date has proven that hydrogen appliances are technically feasible and safe. However, there is insufficient support (financial), incentive (commercial), and certainty (policy) to signal confidence to market – and ultimately motivate OEMs to conduct further appliance development in readiness for future demonstrators or wider rollout.

Lessons Learnt

The final ‘closure report’ captures many lessons learned by the collaborative Appliance Working Group (AWG) (from the two-year period from March 2022 to February 2024), in addition to:
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serving as a guide to the previously delivered (or drafted) documents & materials - such that these can be picked up in future - should another demonstration trial, or similar project, go ahead.
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summarising the availability of hydrogen appliances known to the project, and recommending the required development of appliances in order to enable a ‘typical’ village-scale trial.
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summarising the significant appliance-related risks that have been introduced from the Redcar trial cancellation, and making some recommendations for next steps.
Valuable insights on appliances and use-cases were gathered through surveys of over 1,500 domestic properties and 180 commercial properties (across both the proposed Whitby & Redcar village trial areas). It was concluded that appliance data from domestic properties can be extrapolated with a high degree of confidence – but this is not the case with commercial properties, due to their unique nature. Relationships were established and developed with around 30 individual appliance and component manufacturers, and trade bodies, to discuss the products encountered during the surveys.
It was observed that each non-domestic property’s installed appliances were specific to the needs of the business, and type of building. Even in businesses of similar nature (such as takeaways of the same type), installed appliances were not necessarily the same. The conclusion is that until all non-domestic properties have been surveyed, a list of required non-domestic appliances cannot be finalised and should therefore be prioritised in any future project. This also highlighted that electrification of some businesses, especially catering, may not be possible, as they relied on open (naked) flames or burner outputs greater than what current electrical alternatives can offer.
During Stage 2 of the HVT process, working with British Gas as domestic downstream leads, both Cadent and NGN completed domestic property surveys to understand the variety of appliances that were currently in situ within both trial locations.
It was agreed by the AWG that, due to the similarity of gas appliances found in domestic homes between both areas, the survey data provided enough information to be representative of all domestic properties and provided suitable confidence to make a decision on the required appliance option list for either HVT (and hence which appliances would require further development).
This difference between domestic and non-domestic properties is notable. A representative sample of domestic properties is likely to give a good indication of appliances across all domestic properties in a trial area. However, data gathered from a limited number of non-domestic properties cannot be extrapolated for all non-domestic properties in any area.
The project (informed by the surveys) also highlighted some niche technical challenges that, while not seemingly insurmountable, should be addressed in advance of any future demonstration or wider rollout, to avoid any future delays. These challenges included the likes of:
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The current gap in standards for NOx emission limits from ‘naked’ (open) flame cooking appliances (e.g., hobs)
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The suitability of existing flue/extraction systems for use with replacement 100% hydrogen appliances (particularly any more complex ‘shared’ flue systems for use with parallel appliance configurations)
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Availability of suitably certified ancillary equipment (more so regarding non-domestic installations)
A workshop was also conducted with members of the AWG, to reflect on the work carried out on appliances over the course of the HVT stages completed.

The lessons were categorised into the following three themes:
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Technical observations (for example related to science and development of appliances, or execution of in-property surveys).
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Project observations (for example related to structure and governance of the HVT, with relation to appliances, both internally to the AWG and externally).
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Stakeholder observations (for example, related to the interactions and communications had with various parties).