Venting or flaring of natural gas is currently required in operational or maintenance procedures for work to be undertaken on the gas network. We currently utilise venting and recompression systems on the network to capture gas and inject it back into the NTS. This project will investigate how hydrogen will impact on these systems and their operation, and conduct a technology review of innovative systems which could be utilised on the NTS once hydrogen / hydrogen blends is injected into the network.
Benefits
This project will help to minimise, eliminate or capture both natural gas and hydrogen emissions, which will support our net zero targets and decarbonising the NTS. This project will also inform the UKs hydrogen strategy by investigating a vent free transition.
Learnings
Outcomes
Value tracking
Data Point
Data Point Definition
Maturity
TRL 2-3
Understanding of hydrogen venting, flaring and recompression has been progressed in this project but more work is needed.
Opportunity
100% and multiple asset classes
The project covers all of NGT's venting activities.
Deployment costs
-
No solutions have been selected for deployment. Technology search has identified a number of hydrogen venting solutions, flares and recompressors that could be used with hydrogen but more detailed studies are needed.
Innovation cost
£388,990
This cost covers a network wide impact assessment, technology searches, policy and procedure reviews and a strategy to eliminate venting for Project Union
Financial Saving
-
The project has not resulted in financial savings.
Safety
25% improvement
The project has furthered NGT's understanding of hydrogen venting, flaring and recompression.
Environment
0 tonnes
The project will not result in direct CO2 savings but will support the transition to hydrogen.
Compliance
Supports compliance
This project has proposed changes to NGT's policies and procedures for hydrogen venting, flaring and recompression, helping NGT meet key standards and regulation associated with transmission network operation, such as GSMR.
Skills & Competencies
Individuals
The project outputs have been reviewed by key stakeholders. Further work and learnings will be carried out and disseminated more widely.
Future proof
Must have for business strategy
This project is key to increase NGT's knowledge of hydrogen venting, flaring and recompression, which are key operations for the NTS as hydrogen is introduced. The findings cover operation, safety, environment, economic elements.
Lessons Learnt
Technical lessons
· Hydrogen has a known Global Warming Potential of ~11, meaning it has a greenhouse effect 11 times worse than CO2, so venting should be avoided for both financial and environmental reasons.
· Where hydrogen venting is necessary, certain technologies may be deployed to reduce risk of ignition. For smaller vents, flame arrestors could be used. However for larger venting, flaring may be the desired solution to reduce environmental impact and reduce risk of a large hydrogen cloud building up. Dispersion modelling for hydrogen venting should be undertaken to show whether hydrogen cloud build up is a significant risk for different vent sizes.
· Recompression solutions for hydrogen are not commercially available. NGT should engage with suppliers to develop these solutions for application on the NTS.
· Existing recompression units deployed by NGT may be suitable for up to 12% hydrogen blends, however this should be confirmed with the equipment supplier.
Delivery lessons
· This project involved a wide range of key topics and hence a wide range of SME from within NGT needed to be engaged. It was important to align each deliverable against the key stakeholders interests. More detailed stakeholder engagement plans would be beneficial in future projects.
· A large amount of data was required by the project supplier to undertake the assessment. It took time to identify key contacts to acquire the data and ensure the information is of sufficient quality to get the best outcome from the project. More time should be allocated to data gathering when such a large amount of data is required. This process could also commence ahead of the formal project kick off to speed the process along.
