Britain’s Northern Gas Networks has reported that the proposed Redcar Hydrogen Village in northeastern England could bring significant benefits to the area.
These include over £300 million ($381 million) of investment over the next ten years and at least 300 engineering and other high-quality jobs in what the company states as a historically underfunded region.
Northern Gas Networks is currently in discussions with government about the go-ahead of the proposed hydrogen village, which would see around 2,000 homes in the Yorkshire coastal town of Redcar converted to run on hydrogen.
The trial, planned as the follow-on to the current H100 Fife 300 home neighbourhood trial, has been envisaged as the next step towards the potential wider use of hydrogen as a replacement for gas as a support for Britain to reach its net zero targets.
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However, there has been consumer opposition to it, leading to the government in July withdrawing the other contender, Whitby on the northwest coast, which had been proposed by Cadent and British Gas.
While there have been reports of similar consumer concerns in Redcar, clearly they are likely to be an important consideration in the go-ahead of the trial.
“Hydrogen has already been used across the world and in the UK for decades, and as a low carbon option that gives all of the familiarity and comfort of gas, it has a major role to play as part of the net zero solution,” comments Mark Horsley, Chief Executive of NGN.
“How it benefits the local community is a priority, and we are delighted by the investment and jobs it will bring to the resident of Redcar over the next few years.”
Participating homes would be supplied with new hydrogen appliances. In addition, they would be eligible for up to £2,000 in energy efficiency measures such as insulation.
Redcar was chosen by NGN due to plans by bp with its HyGreen Teesside project to produce green hydrogen locally.
The company further anticipates that the hydrogen can be pumped through the existing gas pipes, with limited disruption and additional cost.
