Multimodal Hydrogen Transport Refuelling Study

Completed

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Hydrogen, Hydrogen transport and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Northern Gas Network (NGN) North East

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 March 2022

01 May 2022

2 months

£89,447

Energy

North East

Project Contact, Northern Gas Network (NGN) North East

Project Contact, Northern Gas Networks

The Multimodal Hydrogen Transport Refuelling Network Study will evaluate the potential for hydrogens use in transport across the North of England. It will create a joined-up, regional strategy to cost-effectively kick-start the hydrogen economy in the North and directly support the growth of zero-emission transport options. The project will begin by selecting hydrogen vehicle types with promising use cases: high utilisations, challenging duty cycles, heavy loads etc. We will then map centres of concentration for these vehicles such as bus and truck depots, ports, airports and rail stations. Having engaged with both large, local fleet operators and fuel cell electric vehicle OEMs, we will model localised vehicle up- take scenarios. By combining information on fuel cell vehicle efficiencies and standard vehicle mileages, we will convert the vehicle deployments into regionalised hydrogen demands. We will analyse vehicle routes on road, rail and otherwise to identify hydrogen demand hot-spots. We will overlay this data with information on the location of existing fuel stations, and gas and electricity grids to identify a number of sites that would be prime, future-proofed locations for hydrogen refuelling stations. We will investigate the hydrogen production and supply options to supply the stations and will model the expected hydrogen production from each of these through time. This will take into account any available information on near- and medium-term Northern hydrogen production projects e.g. large-scale electrolysers and reformers with carbon-capture facilities as well as likely sites for new hydrogen production projects like large wind farms and biomethane plants. This will also include an analysis of how hydrogen can be delivered to the stations with a focus on evaluating the potential of the gas grid to deliver hydrogen to high- capacity hydrogen stations compared to incumbent technologies. The initial findings of these analyses will be worked up into a document that will be shared with key stakeholders, such as local governments, vehicle operators and technology providers for review and feedback, letters of support from some key stakeholders are in the appendix. This report will be submitted at the end of the Discovery process with conclusions on more detailed work to be done in the Alpha and Beta phases which will culminate in the deployment of several fleets in strategic use cases and locations to evidence the strategy and pave the way for a wider vehicle roll-out in the north.

14/10/22