Northern Gas Networks is responsible for safely and reliably transporting gas to 2.7 million customers across the North East, northern Cumbria and most of Yorkshire. We provide a 24 hour service, responding to emergencies and reports of gas leaks, as well as maintaining and upgrading our network of underground pipes.
This initiative would involve changing the gas supplied through our pipes from the natural gas supplied today, to hydrogen.
This is because hydrogen can be used in the same way as natural gas but is more environmentally friendly.
We have submitted our proposal to the Government and our regulator, Ofgem and following further work over the coming year, will find out in 2023 whether the project will go ahead.
If the proposal is given the go ahead, the homes and businesses in the area would need to be switched to hydrogen and have new hydrogen appliances installed in the place of any current gas appliances including boilers, fires and cookers in the homes. If a customer doesn’t wish to receive hydrogen they can opt for an electric alternative. Either option would be at no cost to the customer. See our customer information section (link) for more information.
We selected Redcar because there are already commitments to produce hydrogen in the area and it makes sense that the communities located closest to the production are the first to use it.
The government has highlighted that the UK’s hydrogen economy could be worth £900 million by 2030 and create as many as 9,000 jobs, so hydrogen could represent a great opportunity for Redcar and the local area.
The team at Northern Gas Networks is really excited to be working in Redcar over the next year, speaking to customers to understand what is important and take on board the views of the community as we develop our proposal further.