Hy4Heat Project

Hy4Heat forms part of a wider BEIS investigation into the most economic methods for decarbonising the UK’s heating needs. More generally, interest in hydrogen as a clean fuel is growing and we are involved in a number of government-funded and industry initiatives.

Hy4Heat is a study to establish if it’s technically possible and safe to replace natural gas with hydrogen in residential and commercial buildings and gas appliances. This will enable to government to determine whether to proceed to a community trial.

The work is split into the following work packages:

Hydrogen Gas Standards: defining a hydrogen quality standard, including purity, odorant and colourant levels, defining a hydrogen reference standard for installations and defining a training competence framework for hydrogen conversion training of qualified gas installers and network operators.

Appliance Certification: establishing guidance on certification of a new generation of hydrogen appliances.

Domestic Hydrogen Gas Appliances: development of hydrogen-fuelled boilers, cookers and fires and innovative hydrogen gas appliances.

Commercial and Industrial Appliances: research into the variety of commercial gas appliances and industrial gas systems and the issues to be addressed in their conversion or replacement with hydrogen appliances and systems, plus development of selected commercial hydrogen appliances.

Comparative Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) of the use of hydrogen vs. natural gas in properties: assessment of the relative risks of using hydrogen vs. natural gas in properties, including investigation of leak rates, dispersion patterns, ignition likelihood and consequences of ignition, plus identification of protection measures to reduce risk.

Demonstration: demonstration of hydrogen appliances in a purpose-built temporary facility for stakeholder engagement and feedback
Meters: development of SMETS2 compliant hydrogen gas meters for domestic and small commercial properties.

We will have established whether it is technically possible and safe to use hydrogen for heating and cooking in commercial and residential buildings and gas appliances.

As the technical lead for Hy4Heat, supporting the overall programme management, Kiwa is providing technical advice to every aspect of the programme including:

• Technical lead for programme
• Project scoping and procurement advice
• Tender specification, evaluation and contract management
• Literature review, analysis and report writing to support the comparative QRA
• Stakeholder engagement
• Quality assurance of contract delivery, including supervision of product development, review of contractors’ reports and draft standards