Hydrogen

Technology

We’re using green hydrogen’s storage and distribution characteristics in combination with flexible generation to develop leading UK electricity network balancing tools.

Why Green Hydrogen?

Green hydrogen can be used to replace carbon-based fuels across a wide range of applications including heavy duty transport, industrial heat, heating homes and power generation. It‘s production creates no carbon and when combusted only water as a by-product.

How we use Green Hydrogen

We plan to use state-of-the-art electrolyser technology capable of responding rapidly to network signals to align hydrogen production with fluctuating renewable generation patterns, ramping up and down to match periods of surplus renewable energy. The hydrogen produced can then be stored before being used to run flexible generation at times of low renewable energy output.

Hydrogen production

Through the process of electrolysis, excess renewable energy is used to produce green hydrogen. This hydrogen can be used in a variety of applications as a zero-carbon fuel, such as displacing natural gas for thermal power generation.

Hydrogen storage

Hydrogen provides an important medium of long-term energy storage. To ensure continuity of energy supply in the UK, hydrogen storage will be essential for balancing intermittent renewable generation due to seasonal variatons.

Flexible generation

Gas-fired thermal generation provides the bulk of today’s energy flexibility in the UK. Hydrogen can be used to displace natural gas as an input fuel and decarbonise this key source of flexibility.

Our hydrogen projects will reduce key challenges for the electricity network by:

Reducing curtailment

By producing hydrogen at times of surplus renewable energy

Providing long duration storage

By storing hydrogen to provide energy security all year round

Managing intermittency

By using hydrogen to produce electricity at times of shortfall