GB’s Project Union hydrogen network project advances

The next stage of the ‘Project Union’ hydrogen network project has kicked off with the award of the pre-Front End Engineering Design (pre-FEED) activities.

National Gas, Britain’s gas transmission operator, has awarded the pre-FEED studies to services company Jacobs and sustainability consultancy ERM, which will develop route options for a national hydrogen backbone connecting industrial regions across the country.

Project Union, which is led by National Gas Transmission, aims to create a hydrogen backbone capable of transporting 100% hydrogen and connecting hydrogen production and storage with end users.

Through the phased repurposing of existing high-pressure gas transmission network infrastructure, alongside the construction of selected new pipelines, Project Union is expected to create a hydrogen network of up to 2,000km, equivalent to 25% of Britain’s current methane transmission network.

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Jacobs and ERM will work with National Gas to develop the strategic route options, culminating in the production of strategic options and pre-FEED reports for the full hydrogen backbone.

The process will include customer and stakeholder engagement, technical assessments for repurposing the current national transmission pipelines for hydrogen use, environmental and planning consent review and a cost estimation of the options.

Danielle Stewart, Project Director of Project Union at National Gas, said that while engaging Jacobs and ERM is an exciting development for Project Union, “most importantly it represents the next step in providing widespread access to low carbon hydrogen in Britain, leading to system resilience and efficiency by using shared network infrastructure.”

Project Union is currently in a feasibility phase to identify a programme of ‘no regrets’ investments, with the aim to inform energy policy and enable government to make progress in realising its hydrogen ambitions, which include reaching 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

The contract announcement also follows the publication of the National Infrastructure Commission’s five-yearly National Infrastructure Assessment, which recommended a national hydrogen network to connect and decarbonise major industrial centres across Britain and to strengthen energy security.

The outputs from the pre-FEED studies are expected to inform investment decisions on the future development phases of Project Union and the wider GB hydrogen economy.