Learnings

Outcomes

Value tracking                    Data Point                                        Data Point Definition            

Maturity                              TRL 2-4                                              The maturity of the existing uprating process is advanced, consideration 

for how hydrogen impacts this new process has not been made and 

therefore the TRL is low at the start of this project but should rapidly 

increase.  

Opportunity                       100% of single asset class                The project will cover only pre-heating system. 

Deployment costs              -                                                        The project is not delivering something that will be deployed on the 

network. 

Innovation cost                  £242,233.33                                      The cost of the innovation includes a desktop study, 

site visits (travel), reporting and project management. 

Financial Saving               -                                               The project may result in financial savings if the findings can be used to 

avoid costly changes to Pre-heating system and configurations however

 this will not be realised within this work. 

Safety                            -                                               The project can be taken forward to update policies and procedures for 

hydrogen, which will enable safe operation and maintenance of the NTS. 

Environment                  -                                               The project will not have any direct CO2 savings but will help 

enable hydrogen in the NTS. 

Compliance                        Ensures compliance                         The project will support compliance with relevant safety standards for 

safe operation of hydrogen network in the future. 

Skills & Competencies        Individuals                                        Individuals directly involved with the project will gain an understanding 

into the hydrogen networks and current NTS assets designs with 

hydrogen.  

New tool, skills and competencies will need to be developed across the 

departments. 

Future proof                      Supports business strategy              The project will help enable hydrogen in the NTS and support the energy 

transition.             

The project has the potential to influence future decision-making, such as RIIO-3 investment to enable NTS network decisions on future hydrogen transmission infrastructure.

Lessons Learnt

Project delivery learnings

·       There were a minor delay in receiving data from FutureGrid testing. Wood has managed to spare the resource and complete the study within the delivery time for Phase 1.

Technical learnings

·       Selection of Equation of State (EoS) is critical for accurate Joule Thompson effect prediction of change in temperature due to expansion of gas. ​Prediction of JTC via laboratory experiments is complex, physical operation with blended hydrogen gas can be used to tune the simulation models. 

·       Simulation results showed excellent match with FutureGrid Data, thermodynamic models can predict J-T cooling for hydrogen and natural gas blended systems with reasonable accuracy. ​ GERG2008 EoS showed better predictions for 100% hydrogen gas compared to Peng-Robinson.

·       For design purposes, it is recommended to tune the models as per FutureGrid data and take appropriate margins to ensure pre-heating systems are adequate to handle blends of hydrogen.