Biomethane is key to decarbonising the UKs gas network. However, in comparison to Natural Gas, it has a lower energy density and requires enrichment before injection into the gas network. Currently Propane is used, a fossil fuel, undermining the environmental credentials of biomethane, increasing production cost and introducing bituminous elements causing down-time in biomethane plants. Project CLEAN GREEN will identify alternative green enrichment gases to fossil Propane, and consider how improved measurement technology can inform network intelligence to optimise Biomethane injection. This will lead to improvements in cost, carbon efficiency and injection volumes of Biomethane into the distribution networks.

**BioCapMap** is a Strategic Innovation Fund Discovery project led by Cadent, with Bohr Energy and Energy Systems Catapult. It will unlock the UK's biomethane potential by developing a digital, self-service tool that helps developers identify optimal gas network connection points, being the first of kind to solve this gap in the connections planning process. By addressing outdated network data and inefficient connection processes, the tool will streamline planning, reduce costs, and accelerate green gas deployment. BioCapMap supports rural growth and decarbonisation of the gas network by improving network visibility, enabling smarter investment, and enhancing coordination between developers and network operators.

GNES (Gas Network Evolution Simulator) uses Agent Based Modelling to simulate how people, policies, and infrastructure interact as the UK transitions away from natural gas. By reflecting real-world behaviours and decisions, it helps energy networks, policymakers, and communities explore fair, cost-effective pathways to decarbonisation. GNES reveals how transition choices impact different households and regions, ensuring no one is left behind. Developed by the Centre for Energy Equality with industry and public partners, GNES supports a whole-system approach to planning a just and resilient energy future that works for everyone, not just those able to move first.

This project will explore how utility companies and highway authorities can better coordinate roadworks to reduce disruption, cut carbon emissions, and improve efficiency. Through stakeholder engagement, data analysis, and lessons from existing schemes, the Discovery Phase will assess the need and value of a new approach to identifying and enabling collaborative works. The aim is to reduce repeated excavations, shorten road closures, and improve public experience. While led by Cadent and NGED, the project is intended to benefit all utilities, local authorities, and the wider public by supporting a more joined-up, transparent, and environmentally responsible approach to essential infrastructure delivery.

The HyScale Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) project aims to demonstrate how an LOHC system can be used for capturing, storing and releasing hydrogen into a gas network, to manage long-duration storage requirements. The use of LOHCs connected to an electrolyser and a hydrogen gas network, will enable it to run flexibly and take advantage of low electricity prices. This will reduce the cost of producing hydrogen for consumers, accelerating the uptake of hydrogen for industrial offtakers, power generation and domestic heating. LOHC systems may play an important role in providing storage flexibility where geological storage is not available.

_EMStor Alpha Phase will assess the technical and commercial feasibility of repurposing a depleted onshore hydrocarbon field in the East Midlands to store hydrogen. The project will also asses how people living in the vicinity of hydrocarbon fields feel about those assets being re-purposed to storing hydrogen. Hydrogen storage will enable accelerated deployment of Cadent's East Coast Hydrogen Pipeline, delivering low carbon hydrogen that enables industry, power and aviation to switch from fossil fuels and decarbonise. The lead network is Cadent, supported by National Gas, and the remaining partners are British Geological Survey, Edinburgh University, Star Energy, Centrica and Uniper._

no public description

To improve the safety of our workforce and our gas networks by understanding and evidencing the impact of fatigue, caused by working hours, on employees in safety critical roles.

HyNet is one of the most advanced, low risk and cost-effective full chain hydrogen and CCUS industrial decarbonisation projects in the UK, which can transform the North West of the UK into the world's first low carbon industrial cluster by 2030\. The UK has passed legislation to deliver Net Zero emissions by 2050\. Significant progress has been made in the decarbonisation of power. However, less progress has been made in the decarbonisation of the 'hard to reach' sectors of the economy including industry, heat and heavy transport. The North West is one of the largest and most energy intensive industrial clusters in the UK, encompassing parts of North East Wales, Cheshire, Warrington, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester. It is home to 4 million people and generates annual industrial emissions of 6 million tonnes of CO2\. HyNet was conceived in 2016 with the objective of decarbonising the entire industrial cluster to Net Zero, directly aligning with the Industrial Clusters Mission. While industrial decarbonisation is the anchor, the project builds the infrastructure backbone for a full regional hydrogen economy. HyNet is centred in the industrial complex between Ellesmere Port and Runcorn. Bulk low carbon hydrogen production facilities will be constructed at Stanlow Refinery, providing hydrogen for industrial fuel switching, blending into the local gas network, transport and flexible power generation. A dedicated network will transport hydrogen from production to demand points and hydrogen storage assets in the Cheshire salt fields to enable supply and demand balancing. The HyNet CCUS network will provide the infrastructure to transport and store the CO2 produced as a by-product of the hydrogen production process and specific industrial sources that cannot be mitigated by fuel switching. A number of the UK's largest industrial emitters, including Stanlow Refinery, Ince Fertiliser plant and Padeswood Cement plant located in this cluster, will connect to the CCUS network. HyNet is innovative and unique in that it: * Delivers a full-chain hydrogen project, including production, distribution and storage, to decarbonise industry and to provide an infrastructure for cross-sectoral decarbonisation; * Repurposes existing oil and gas assets in Liverpool Bay for CO2 transport and storage to minimise project cost and risk. Following extensive development to date, the activities to be undertaken in this next stage will allow HyNet to enter a development programme of engineering and consenting activities which will deliver a project ready for the final investment decision.

The Net Zero NW Cluster Plan will set out the transition to net-zero for industry in the North West of England and North East Wales. It will describe the investments, technologies, infrastructure changes and sequencing required to fulfil the UK's Industrial Clusters Mission. The project focuses on two key objectives: * Establishing a low-carbon industrial cluster by 2030, by deploying anchor investment projects including HyNet hydrogen and CCUS infrastructure * Establishing a net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040, underpinned by multi-vectored industrial decarbonisation solutions Industry and public sector bodies, building on the preliminary research completed in Phase 1, will collaboratively promote and engage on plans to decarbonise, ensuring businesses have a strong voice in planning decarbonisation activity in line with current and future business needs whilst leveraging inward investment opportunities. Energy consumers, networks, generators and academia will research and quantify data and evidence necessary to reach consensus on the most viable options to decarbonise in line with national and local political declarations. The project will engage and support other complementary initiatives in the region, including but not limited to HyNet (an anchor project), the NW Hydrogen Alliance, E-Port, Mersey Tidal Energy, North West Nuclear Arc and others. The largest industries in the cluster account for over 6 million tonnes of carbon emissions per annum, from diverse facilities that include oil refining, downstream processing, cement, fertiliser production, glass manufacturing, base chemicals, food manufacturing, automotive, and personal care products. Further industrial emissions are associated with other industry across the broader NW region, extending up to Lancashire and Cumbria. Industrial process energy and heat consumed across all businesses in the area is over 27 TWhr per annum-the region of North Cheshire alone uses 5% of UK power. Several manufacturing and light industrial businesses reliant on energy intensive processes are located in business parks with the potential to employ shared infrastructure, including heat networks, smart grids and decentralised generation. The project takes an industry and innovation-led approach guiding the decarbonisation of the first UK industrial cluster on a low-cost, low-regrets basis whilst exploring opportunities for shared infrastructure with the South Wales industrial cluster and others. By enabling multiple industrial facilities to reduce their emissions by the greatest possible extent, with knock-on effects in the reduction of commercial, domestic and transport emissions, the Net Zero NW Cluster Plan will realise over 33,000 new jobs, over £4bn investment and the world's first net-zero industrial cluster.

The Greater Manchester Local Energy Market (GM LEM) project forms a key part of the city region's plans for decarbonisation, set out in the '5 Year Environment Plan for Greater Manchester' and complemented by the Greater Manchester's Smart Energy Plan, together these enable GM Mayor Andy Burnham's target for a zero carbon emissions city region by 2038 announced at the Mayor's Green Summit in March 2019\. Building on Phase 1, the Greater Manchester Local Energy Market (GM LEM) project is an ambitious integrated, whole system energy vision that addresses how energy is generated, traded, transported, supplied and used across the city region. Co-ordinated by the devolved Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) it brings together a diverse array of partners from the private, public and Third sectors including, commercial and legal advisors, service design consultants, financial and regulatory specialists and the energy, technology and systems resources of Hitachi-Europe, Bruntwood, Bristol Energy, WSP, DAIKIN, Northwards Housing and leading technology provider SME Upside Energy. The project vision combines two key themes; a place-based approach to geospatial energy system planning, harmonising the demands of the energy transition with traditional local authority-led approach to planning and enables us to understand current energy assets and networks and to plan how they may change over time; and the development of a unique new local energy market aggregation platform, integrating new smart technologies across heat, power and transport and linking into local distribution and national transmission platforms. A user-centred design methodology puts customers at the heart of our approach, incorporating commercial property clients, early adopter owner occupiers, social housing tenants and the public sector. A Service Design approach creates an understanding of customer needs and consumption patterns and develops new value sharing propositions. Recognising the daunting economic, environmental and societal challenges the energy transition presents, the project involves citizens, the public and private sector and seeks to protect the most vulnerable in society from the impact of rising energy bills or poor-quality homes. GM LEM builds on the previously funded 'Prospering from the Energy Revolution' stage 1 feasibility study to accelerate from current market conditions to a Peer-to-Peer trading scenario suitable for the challenges of the mid-2020s. A new local market will reduce carbon emissions and consumer bills, providing market confidence and leading to increased local investment with the accelerated deployment of renewable energy and storage assets.

Our economy, and in particular the energy economy is evolving fast. The day of the large international energy provider capturing and exporting local value is coming to an end, in future energy 'systems' are local, with the value of energy consumption created and retained locally through the use of emerging technologies and open markets with energy delivered to users through new consumer offering and business models, empowering all participants in the energy economy to get their fair share of the value creation. REWIRE-NW takes a revolutionary mission-oriented approach to the Smart Local Energy System (SLES) proposition through its combination of the SLES framework and its focus on community and local benefit and value retention, its core objective being the creation of an energy system that is not only optimised and balanced at the local level in energy terms, but also in terms of welfare and benefit of all of its stakeholders. Through the SLES framework REWIRE-NW will propose new market arrangements that pave the way for change. New structures and procedures in the form of the intelligent 5G enhanced Mission-Oriented Local Energy Market (MOEM) and data-centric Intelligent Local Energy Architect (ILEA) operated under a new entity, the Smart Local Energy Company (SLEC) will drive the system towards a lower cost and lower carbon outcome. The definition of these new entities will be established, but their objective will be locally focussed and impact driven from the start. Change will require an evolution in regulation and a revolution in approaches to finance and ownership. Local is at the heart of REWIRE-NW and the benefits of an increased role for the public and community sector alongside commercial ownership will be realised. REWIRE-NW sees this future as a key opportunity to redefine the role of community in energy and design a system that priorities local social and economic objectives. If value is created locally it should be distributed locally.

"Within the next 20 years, the former ENGIE Rugeley Power Station will be turned into a 2,300 dwellings mixed-use development. However, studies have shown that the distribution network has little capacity left, with the local distribution network operator already being forced to procure Demand-Side-Response Services. And this is expected to increase with the introduction of electric heating, vehicle charging or additional local generation - even a new substation would alleviate problems only temporarily. As observed in many areas of the country, the common understanding is that developments like this are unlikely to happen in low value area such as Rugeley, where capacity limitations in energy infrastructure require a high investment, leading to a lack of regeneration. This project shall demonstrate the contrary. The project will deliver a detailed design of a smart local energy system for Rugeley Town and its surroundings, which is sustainable, low carbon, readily investable and that drives the regeneration of the town and local energy infrastructure while offering additional services and value to the residents. The key innovation of this project is the use of a major on-going development as a catalyst for the regeneration of a whole town and region, and the application of an innovative co-generation supported design process. Specific options will include: -Renewables generation and storage on the Rugeley Power Plant site to balance local network -Identification of fabric and smart retrofit measures for existing housing stock to optimise demand -Introduction of a Transport Hub to provide green fuel using local bio fuel production -The opportunity to create demand for the possible biomethane plant nearly Wolseley Bridge, that could provide Biomethane for HGV CNG refuelling. With a filling station on the new development servicing the new and existing HGV fleets. This could include Rugeley council vehicles. Combination of biomethane with CNG vehicles gives greater emissions savings, compared to Natural Gas alone. Also the local tip is close by and could be a collection point for feedstock for the biomethane plant. -Creation of a local smart control centre -Creation of a local market platform"

This innovative project will create a cleaner, lower cost energy system for Coventry and the West Midlands region which maximises economic opportunities in clean growth and future mobility, and is driven by customers. It will deliver local policy objectives, particularly energy cost and carbon targets set out by local authorities in response to the increasingly urgent climate emergencies recently declared across the country. Our smart energy system detailed design is a revolutionary local market-making model which will effectively integrate new energy technologies (including low carbon vehicles and transport models, energy storage, locally-acceptable renewable energy technologies, carbon offsetting and energy efficiency) into the existing energy, transport and economic infrastructure of the region. We will work in partnership with the energy infrastructure providers (gas, heat, electricity, and transport), customers, and all local authorities and strategic planning authorities across the region. Customers will benefit from lower energy costs and increased local investment and jobs. The project builds on existing working groups established in multiple Energy Innovation Zones (EIZs) across the region, and is led by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) through the established Energy Capital Partnership. Energy Innovation Zones encourage local ownership and engagement with this new business and operating model and effective access to highly location-specific opportunities. They provide an integrated context and engaged stakeholders and customers to support strategic network investment planning. The project will detail a smart design for Coventry and demonstrate the relevance of the approach to the wider region by replicating the approach for East Birmingham and North Solihull. The focus of the project is on facilitating targeted smart energy system investment through a combination of strategic whole system design (investment planning) and close to real-time system optimisation. Citizens and customers will be able to explore the novel technologies and business models proposed as part of the design in a real-world demonstrator established on University of Warwick campus, a community of over 30,000 people. The design will aim to use local price and value signals covering electricity, gas, and heat distribution network assets and work through an innovative capacity and flexibility trading mechanism (readily accessible to both demand and supply side market participants, including EVs and energy efficiency in buildings).

"This project is a feasibility study into a large-scale power-to-gas (P2G) demonstration project. P2G technology aims to solve the challenge of accommodating intermittent renewable electricity generation on the grid by producing zero-carbon fuel. P2G systems respond flexibly to absorb electricity at times when generation exceeds demand, helping the electricity system to accommodate renewable generation which may otherwise be wasted. The electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The low-carbon hydrogen gas has several uses: as a transport fuel; in industry to displace methane used for heat or fossil-fuel derived hydrogen in chemical processes; and it can also replace some or all of the methane in the gas network to decarbonise heating. P2G systems hold significant potential to help to decarbonise the electricity and gas networks as well as enabling energy storage by absorbing excess energy on the electricity grid and storing it (e.g. in salt caverns), ready to be injected into the gas network. One hydrogen for heat project is underway in the UK; HyDeploy will inject hydrogen into a closed private gas network. Other P2G systems are operating worldwide. However, these projects are generally small scale and in the UK no project has yet injected hydrogen into the public gas network, nor have they trialled the impact of providing grid balancing services on the economics of gas production. Several projects are in place to understand the feasibility of injecting into the gas network and to determine the regulatory changes which would be required. This project aims to explore the options, costs, and key design elements of a large-scale P2G system which could be deployed in Cheshire. The objectives are: to produce sufficient evidence (technical and economic) to enable the demonstration project to be financed and built; to raise awareness of the potential for such systems to transform and decarbonise the energy sectors; and to produce a detailed design for a large-scale electrolyser system. The project partners in this application include ITM Power, a UK manufacturer of PEM electrolysers; INOVYN, a chemical company with hydrogen experience which owns the site under consideration; Storengy, a gas storage company operating a site in Cheshire; Cadent, who operate the local gas distribution network and are promoting the NW of England as an international centre for hydrogen expertise; and Element Energy, a low carbon energy consultancy with expertise in business planning for innovative energy projects."