The aviation sector has a significant challenge to help achieve net zero, as it currently contributes 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and 7% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen could play a role in decarbonising the sector, not only as a direct fuel source for future aircraft, but also for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and in the aerospace supply chain.
WWU need to understand the potential scale and timing of requirements for hydrogen for aviation, alongside potential barriers and challenges, as they explore the role their infrastructure may be able to play in delivering blended and 100% hydrogen in a decarbonised energy system.
Benefits
This is a Research Project - the realisation of any benefits are outside the control of the gas networks.
Learnings
Outcomes
WWU received a report which provided an accurate baseline for understanding the role of hydrogen in the aviation sector, including aircraft, ground vehicle operations and the supply chain. This related to WWU’s geography, live/planned projects, and strategy with local industrial clusters such as Hydrogen South West and the South Wales Industrial Cluster, but also the broader UK industrial decarbonisation strategy and the ‘Ten Point Plan’ to ensure that the findings of the work were applicable to Gas Distribution Networks (GDN) counterparts.
Key findings include:
- Potential for high hydrogen demand in South Wales and South West England by 2050 due to a combination of factors including renewable energy resources, existing aerospace, industry, robust infrastructure, supportive policies, and international connectivity.
- In the region, hydrogen demand for aviation will be primarily driven by Bristol Airport, considering its size, growth rate, ambitious net zero targets and collaboration within Hydrogen South West.
- In terms of demand, the key observation is that hydrogen demand can be divided into two distinct phases:
- Initially, the demand for hydrogen in the aviation sector will be for the production of SAF with relatively low levels of demand for ground operations and small hopper aircraft. With LanzaTech in South Wales as the dominant SAF producer in the region, it could be well positioned as a key supplier of the region’s SAF by 2030. It will also become a hydrogen user for SAF production.
- The demand will then later shift towards hydrogen as a direct fuel for aviation as larger regional hydrogen aircraft enter service and as challenges to its use at airports are overcome. These include:
- Technology development to reduce the weight and size of the powertrain and hydrogen storage system.
- Hydrogen production and transport at the scale and form required by airports.
- Handling hydrogen in the airport environment.
- Infrastructure for the delivery, storage and distribution of liquid hydrogen at the airport and onboard aircraft.
- Sufficient electricity supply for liquefaction.
With these findings the project has strengthened understanding of where hydrogen may and may not be used within the aviation sector as it transitions to net zero operations, and the prospective demand over time. This can help inform networks future infrastructure strategy and the development of future projects.
Lessons Learnt
- Consider internal and external reports to manage confidential information and, should the opportunity arise, seek stakeholder agreement at the earliest opportunity should information need to be published.
- Data availability has been a particular challenge due to the highly competitive nature of the aerospace sector and associated protection of business interests. This will limit the report as assumptions / ranges have had to be used in some cases. NDAs should be considered in the delivery of future projects of a similar nature.
- Agree the scope of the project with key stakeholders (e.g. Bristol and Cardiff Airports) ahead of commissioning the project such that buy-in is achieved, timescales for other publications can be sequenced and the art of the possible is understood to maximise the benefits of the work.
- Allow approximately 10% of fee and programme for marketing any public facing reports.
- Using logos for stakeholders who played a part in the report did open the report up to politics, which it was important to guard against. It also meant that some stakeholders weren’t included that did feed into the report which would have helped for the publicity.
