Arup secures NGN East Coast Hydrogen Pre-FEED study contract
Global sustainability development consultancy Arup has been commissioned to support Northern Gas Networks (NGN), to undertake a pre-FEED study for the East Coast Hydrogen (ECH) project, focusing on areas within their network including Teesside and the Humber.
ECH, a joint initiative between the gas network operators Cadent, NGN and National Grid Gas Transmission, aims to connect 10GW of hydrogen production to the gas network in northeast England, supporting the UK Government’s plans to meet their 2050 net-zero targets.
The 15-year programme of works will be carried out in discrete phases to decarbonise the NGN network, with the Pre-FEED study forming part of Phase 1 and is due to conclude in mid-2023.
The rest of Phase 1 runs until 2026 and includes the FEED study and development of East Coast Cluster Infrastructure.
“Hydrogen will have a key role to play in decarbonising industry and Arup’s recent contribution to the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan and Teesside Hydrogen Vision demonstrate the environmental, economic and social potential in the Northeast of England. This study will consider many of the projects already identified through these regional strategies that are key for the importation, production and storage of hydrogen. Achieving net zero will only be achieved if we can continue to tackle the challenge together and we look forward to working closely with NGN and their partners to understand the possible scenarios for the ECH project. ”said Steve Saunders.
The work will involve four important phases, including data mining and information gathering, assessment of information and commencing the development of the reports, leading to the first deliverables which include demand, production, and storage studies. Additionally, the development of a modelling brief to confirm how many options should be modelled and to what level of detail for the next phase of the study.
These options will be modelled in collaboration with NGN. The optioneering phase will be a collaborative exercise with NGN consisting of Multi-Criteria Assessments (MCA) to assess the various options created in relation to the findings of the network modeling, routing assessments and how it meets the demand and production scenarios.
Arup has years of combined experience working on cross-country pipeline routings, alongside designing AGIs, Compressor Station modifications and pressure reduction stations.
“NGN looks forward to working with Arup and the extensive experience in hydrogen that the Arup team will bring to the project. ECH will be key to enabling the hydrogen economy to grow from the initial Teesside and Humber clusters and bring a viable option for achieving net zero to the whole of the NGN network area” said Chris Verity.
