Alliander pilots heating Dutch homes with hydrogen

Dutch network operator Alliander has launched a pilot to heat homes with hydrogen via the existing natural gas network.

The pilot, understood as a world first, involves twelve homes in the Berkeloord district of the city of Lochem in the east of the Netherlands.

In the pilot, Alliander intends to investigate the role of hydrogen as an alternative to natural gas for heating homes.

In the project Alliander is working together with the local energy cooperative LochemEnergie, the heating and hot water solution provider Remeha and the regional gas company Westfalen Gassen Nederland BV, among others.

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“Sustainable gases, including hydrogen, are desperately needed to make our energy supply more sustainable because with electricity alone, we can’t make it,” says Daan Schut, CTO of Alliander.

He adds that while large industrial companies already have concrete plans to convert their production processes to hydrogen, in the future the gas will also play a role for smaller production companies and for residential areas.

“This is what we are preparing for because at the moment there is little experience with the use of hydrogen for heating existing and inhabited homes. The practical experience we gain gives us tools to keep the social costs for a sustainable energy infrastructure as low as possible in the future.”

Hydrogen as natural gas alternative

Under the Climate Agreement by 2050 in the Netherlands 7 million homes and 1 million buildings must be rid of natural gas.

Hydrogen is considered one of the alternatives to natural gas to heat homes and buildings, in particular in homes that are difficult to insulate and for which electric heat pumps do not offer a solution or in districts where a heat network cannot be installed.

An additional advantage is the opportunity to use the existing gas networks to deliver hydrogen to the homes.

Much preparation has preceded the launch of the pilot. A hydrogen feed-in installation has been constructed, where also an odorant is added and the pressure is regulated.

All the participating homes are well insulated and their existing central heating boilers have been replaced by Remeha’s certified 100% hydrogen boilers.

Additional pipelines also have been installed to continue the supply of natural gas to the homes that are not participating in the pilot.

The pilot will last for three years, enabling sufficient experience to be gained during several cold winters. The findings will then be shared with other network operators for larger follow up projects.

Attention also will be given to the design of the regional hydrogen network in order to make optimal use of the current natural gas network.