Commercial heating


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The heat is on for hydrogen W


Jeff House, Baxi’s external aff airs and policy director, outlines the role of hydrogen as part of a multi-strand approach to support commercial customers with decarbonising heat


ith heat currently accounting for around a quarter of emissions in UK buildings, changing how we heat our buildings is


essential if we are to achieve our 2050 net zero ambition. But switching to low-carbon heating is a huge challenge and one that will require a variety of approaches depending on the individual building requirements. Along with electrifi cation and heat networks, we believe green hydrogen has a crucial role to play in the future energy mix – particularly in poorly insulated, harder-to-treat commercial buildings where the technically and fi nancially viable options can be restricted.


Why hydrogen?


¡ Hydrogen boilers produce zero carbon emissions at the point of use, helping commercial users to achieve their net-zero emissions target ¡ Businesses will be able to use heating and hot water in the same way as today, without major changes to their heating systems, making this a low disruption option ¡ Pure hydrogen boilers can be used on their own or in a multivalent confi guration with heat pumps to meet peak heat demand, providing a fl exible option for commercial users ¡ Hydrogen can be produced domestically and used eff ectively to store energy over longer periods of time, providing intersessional fl exibility and off setting the intermittent nature of renewable generation. In so doing, it can improve energy resilience and security


Government timelines


The UK government announced earlier this year its commitment to double production capacity from 5GW to 10GW by 2030. It has also detailed in its Hydrogen Strategy and Heat & Buildings Strategy timelines of pilots to assess the potential of hydrogen for heat. The fi rst of these, the HyDeploy project at Keele


University, successfully demonstrated the safe use of 20% hydrogen blends using our own natural gas boilers. According to this work and the Gas Safe Bulletin TB159, current natural gas boilers and other appliances are compatible with hydrogen blends of up to 20%. In other words, no changes to heating products, guidance or measures are needed. Phase 2 of the HyDeploy project is now live in


20 November 2022


Jeff House, Baxi’s external aff airs and policy director


Gateshead, supplying a blend of up to 20% hydrogen to over 600 existing homes. The 20% hydrogen infrastructure is also in place, with Energy Networks Association confi rming that all fi ve of Britain’s gas network companies are ready to start blending hydrogen from 2023.


100% hydrogen boiler pilots


Pure hydrogen boiler pilots are the next step. 100% hydrogen boilers are designed to operate on hydrogen at the point of installation and produce no greenhouse gases at the point of use. We have successfully demonstrated a 100%


hydrogen boiler as part of the government’s Hy4Heat programme in Low Thornley near Gateshead and HyStreet at Spadeadam. The H100 project, the ‘hydrogen neighbourhood’,


will come onstream next year. This will initially see around 300 occupied homes supplied with hydrogen and fi tted with hydrogen burning appliances. A ‘hydrogen village’ pilot is also well underway. Ellesmere Port and Redcar have been shortlisted to deploy hydrogen to several thousand households, together with commercial premises. The proposed ‘hydrogen town’ will follow towards the end of the decade.


Commercial applications


Where does that leave commercial hydrogen appliances? To date, pilots have centred primarily around domestic use. However, we at Baxi now have the fi rst-ever pure hydrogen boiler for commercial use ready for real-life trials. The trials will demonstrate the diff erent


applications of the hydrogen boiler, when deployed at sites of local hydrogen generation and storage solutions, and/or in a multivalent set-up with a heat pump, in which hydrogen would cover the peak loads on the electricity grid. A conversion kit for future boilers to switch


from natural gas to 100% hydrogen is also in development to allow commercial users to prepare themselves for the energy switch and off er more options to decarbonise heat. All of these pilots will help inform future policy decisions.


Bridging solution


So when could we switch to 100% hydrogen boilers? Demand for pure hydrogen boilers will be dictated by the gas distribution networks as their deployment will coincide with local area network conversions and larger scale pilot projects. The introduction of ‘Hydrogen-Ready’ boilers is seen as the bridging solution to the energy transition. These boilers initially use natural gas but can be easily converted to hydrogen at the point of a local network switch over. At the time of writing, the government is yet to publish its consultation on the role of hydrogen-ready appliances. Given that there’s no silver bullet to decarbonising


heat, it’s essential we ramp up deployment of all the feasible options if we are to support customers through the energy transition. When it comes to hydrogen, manufacturers like Baxi are investing in product development and the heating industry is ready to respond. All of which would suggest that the time is now ripe for hydrogen.


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