Lessons from Europe in decarbonising home heating
Dr Tony Ballance, Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer
| Cadent
Whilst much focus is on the government’s mission for clean power, Dr Tony Ballance, chief strategy and regulation officer at Cadent, underlines that the UK also needs to address the reality that a large proportion of homes are currently heated by using natural gas.
Cadent is the UK’s largest gas network, supplying almost as much energy as the country’s entire electricity distribution system put together. Alongside the other gas distribution networks, Cadent provides energy − through natural gas/methane − to about 85 per cent of the UK’s homes, and the vast majority of the UK’s industrial premises. And for the past 25 years, we have been replacing our old iron mains with plastic ones, so we have a modern, reliable and genuinely world-class gas network. We recognise, however, that we need to decarbonise the gas that we supply today to ensure we can deliver net-zero.
“Heat pumps and district heating networks will certainly play a major role in decarbonising home heating, but in Europe, more nuanced positions are emerging that we should take note of in the UK”
For heavy industrial processes − like brick manufacturing, cement and virgin steel production − hydrogen will need to play a significant role, as green gas will be needed. So, we have been working on fantastic projects like HyNet in the north-west of the country, developing plans to enable the gas network to deliver clean, low-carbon hydrogen energy to where businesses need it.
But there is another, potentially bigger challenge. How do we decarbonise home heating? This debate can often result in extreme positions being taken around what the solution might be. Heat pumps and district heating networks will certainly play a major role in decarbonising home heating, but in Europe, more nuanced positions are emerging that we should take note of in the UK.
Despite far higher rates of heat pump installation in mainland Europe, a number of countries, particularly the Netherlands which has the most similar reliance on gas to the UK for home heating, are exploring and supporting hybrid heating systems.
In a hybrid heating system, a smaller heat pump is installed alongside a traditional gas boiler. In normal weather conditions, the heat pump does the job of heating the home − and hot water continues to be provided by the gas boiler. For those very cold days, the boiler helps out. The advantages are clear: these heat pumps are lower cost than a more ‘traditional’ heat pump (as they are smaller); expensive and disruptive retrofitting of the house with new radiators and hot water tanks is avoided; and the electricity network will not be required to meet peak demand from heating (which could be a major cost driver for networks). The reductions in gas demand can reach up to 80 per cent, which makes the challenge of decarbonising the gas we use far more reachable.
In parallel, we could inject far more renewable, low-carbon biomethane into the networks to replace methane − again something that mainland Europe is driving forwards, particularly France. In the UK, we already have enough biomethane connected to our network to heat 250,000 homes, and we believe this could increase to two million. We estimate that, together, hydrogen and biomethane could replace around 20 per cent of today’s gas demand.
In short, the combination of hybrid heating systems and ‘green’ gas like biomethane and hydrogen could decarbonise the gas network − so let’s take heed of what is being undertaken elsewhere in Europe.
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