WSP appointed to develop best practice for hydrogen network design

Professional services consultancy WSP has been appointed by National Gas (NGT) to lead the development of best practice guidelines for designing a new hydrogen network structure in the UK.

This work will also be used to inform NGT’s current standards and policies to facilitate the adaptation of existing assets for use on new hydrogen pipelines. The project will be delivered by the end of 2024.

During the Network Design for Hydrogen project, WSP will draw on its global hydrogen expertise to determine whether the NGT existing network can be directly used for hydrogen, or if additional elements are required to ensure safety and optimised operation.

The project will also consider network resilience when addressing asset capability.

In the Hydrogen Production Roadmap released in December 2023, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero outlined its ambition to have up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. The project will help inform progress towards this goal.

Tony Voss, gas and hydrogen director at WSP, said: “The UK’s future energy mix will consist of a variety of sources and hydrogen is set to play a vital role in our transition to a decarbonised energy system.

“We’re excited to be working with National Gas to explore new approaches and develop existing infrastructure to pave the way for the design of the hydrogen network.”

Corinna Jones, NGT head of innovation, said: “As National Gas continues its programme towards a clean energy future, this partnership will help us to identify benchmark standards and measure our progress on the journey of ensuring widespread access to low carbon hydrogen across Britain.”

This project will run throughout 2024 and comes amid a growing portfolio of WSP hydrogen commissions addressing the design of hydrogen production facilities, hydrogen transmission and distribution pipelines, and hydrogen usage/storage projects.