Redcar Hydrogen

Trial: Scheme in

jeopardy from

local protest and

 government

ineptitude

historic fishermen's cottages, Coatham, Redcar

Scott Hunter

13 December 2023



Welcome to Redcar 2023, erstwhile home of the government-sponsored hydrogen heating trial, where it is proposed that around 2,000 households will have their natural gas supply replaced by hydrogen. Part of the Net Zero initiative from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ, pronounced ‘Desnez’), being carried out, in this instance, by Northern Gas Networks (NGN). Schemes to cut carbon emissions enjoy widespread public approval. This one puts Redcar squarely at the centre of the country’s energy future, and will bring much needed jobs to the area. What’s not to like? Quite a lot as it turns out.

 A report in Thursday’s Daily Telegraph (Hydrogen Heating Trial Hangs in the Balance as Local Support Falls Away, 7 December) indicates that the scheme may now be in jeopardy, despite the support lent it in recent weeks by Energy Secretary, Claire Coutinho.

Entirely by coincidence, we were in Redcar that day, principally to visit the Hydrogen Hub in the town centre, an advice shop for local residents set up by NGN. We were curious to see how this scheme looks from the retail end. Local residents opposed to the scheme had already been in touch with us to express their concerns about it. Yet the trial sounds like a positive development for the delivery of low-carbon energy.

A similar scheme in Fife has been set up with the approval of local people. NGN is not running that scheme but nonetheless has some involvement in the project. More recently, a proposed scheme in the village of Whitby, near Ellesmere Port (run by another network company, Cadent), has had to be abandoned owing to local opposition.

We  approached NGN about this. We asked why, when they had a winning formula in Fife, did they abandon it for one which, in Whitby, got local people’s backs up, and which appears to happening all over again in Redcar? Their response was that they are different phases of the project as a whole. Fife is running the first phase, in which around 300 households in Buckhaven have been invited to opt into a trial, where green hydrogen is to be supplied from a plant soon to be constructed in the vicinity.

The Redcar trial is the second phase of the project and involves around 2,000 households. It was this phase of the scheme that was planned for Whitby. Redcar was substituted when the Whitby one collapsed. In this phase, natural gas supply will be turned off and replaced for the duration of the trial with hydrogen. Residents in the trial area who do not wish to take part will be provided with alternative, electric heating. Appliances for everyone, whether participating in the scheme or not, will be supplied and fitted free of charge.

What’s the point of the hydrogen heating trial?

Homes in the UK generate about 14% of the country’s carbon emissions, while 86% of homes are heated by natural gas, which releases carbon dioxide when burned. Reducing those emissions will significantly impact the country’s carbon footprint. At present there are two principal ideas on the table for how to achieve this. One is to replace gas heating with air source heat pumps. The alternative is to replace natural gas with hydrogen, which, when burned, produces no carbon dioxide. Both methods have their limitations.

One of the main issues around hydrogen heating is that it requires a much more stringent safety regime, both in the supply network and within homes, than natural gas. It has been up to the gas distribution networks (NGN and Cadent) to satisfy local residents that they are up to this challenge. The Whitby scheme collapsed, in part at least, because the network company, Cadent, was unable to convince residents that adequate safety measures were in place. Whether NGN will fare better in Redcar remains to be seen.

What are the incentives to residents of participation in the trial?

All three proposed trials, it must be said, are accompanied by an enormous bag of sweets, and it seems that NGN’s is the largest of all. All residents will be provided with either a hydrogen boiler or an electric alternative. Everyone will be supplied with suitable appliances. Bills will be capped. At the end of the trial, natural gas will be restored, and appliances replaced again. What we believe to be unique to the Redcar scheme, is energy upgrades to homes – cavity wall insulation, double glazing, loft insulation. At the hydrogen hub we asked if all of this was being offered free of charge. We were assured it is.

With regard to addressing residents’ concerns about the scheme, a spokesperson for NGN provided the following statement:

“Ensuring people feel comfortable with the proposals is a priority, and we have worked tirelessly over the last 18 months to engage with and reassure residents and businesses, through drop-in sessions, door-knocking and a public meeting.

“We are planning a meeting for customers in December and are working with the government about the arrangements – we will be in touch with residents once these are finalised. 

“In the meantime, our door is always open, and we continue to actively encourage anyone with questions to come and speak to us at our ‘Hydrogen Hub’ on the High Street.”

We took them up on that and visited the Hub. And also took a walk round Coatham ward, where the trial is to be held.

The Hub

In the Hub we were handed a leaflet that provided some detail about NGN’s retail offering. It quickly became clear that NGN had begun by giving out fairly limited information, then using feedback they got from staff at the Hub, they started to fill in the details. Staff explained that the leaflet had only been produced in the past couple of weeks, earlier ones had not contained this information. Among those who have voiced opposition to the scheme, one complaint has been frustration at the lack of detailed information they have received from NGN.

They also explained that, while there was now growing interest, both positive and negative, in the scheme, it was not always easy to engage with local residents, even when going round the area knocking on doors. So, with regard to the flow of information, NGN and their critics will probably just have to agree to disagree, at least for the time being.

We were left in no doubt that staff at the Hub were going to great lengths to promote the trial to residents and to obtain and feed back to NGN local opinion on it. We discussed the suitability of the area for the trial, given the type of hosing and the high proportion of rented accommodation there. They agreed that this made it challenging but pointed out that the diversity of property (both residential and commercial) in the area made it a particularly worthwhile location for the project.

At the time we thought this a bit of spin, but have decided, on reflection, that it’s a fair point. Among other things, it serves to highlight the challenges both of clean gas supply and of its alternatives.

Coatham Ward

While our on our walk we stopped to talk to an elderly passer-by, out walking his dog. We asked about the ward. He pointed us to High Street West, where, he explained, there are some historic fishermen’s cottages. Nice. We went and took a photo.

He went on to say that the ward has the highest levels of anti-social behaviour in the town. Standing at that moment on Coatham Road near an old church, across from us a row of tidy Victorian terraced houses, this seemed a bit unlikely. But he went on, “not here, down there”, pointing in the direction of the town centre.

Coatham is host to a large number of houses of multiple occupancy (or HMO’s, the new name for bedsits). Along the sea front there are some grim-looking tenement buildings, the streets behind them more Victorian/Edwardian terraces, much smaller than the ones we had observed earlier.

But despite some dingy properties, the area as a whole does not look run down. HMO’s have been excluded from the trial by NGN (as stated in their application for the trial). Other rented accommodation, on the other hand, is in.

How the trial works

For those residents who agree to convert to hydrogen supply, existing gas appliances in homes will be replaced free of charge. These heating systems do not work efficiently unless homes are adequately insulated, so NGN is offering loft insulation, double glazing and cavity wall insulation where needed, also free of charge. During the trial, NGN has asked for feedback from participants. They will be paid (in vouchers) for their cooperation in this.

NGN have gone to some lengths to reassure local residents that they are putting adequate safety measures in place. Yet here, as earlier in Whitby, many are unconvinced. NGN’s handling of that criticism might best be described as ‘unfortunate’.

The Telegraph article quotes NGN as saying “[w]e are aware of a small but vocal minority who oppose our proposal, influenced by campaigners who are not local, but this is not reflective of the community at large”.

To this, we should point out that there are “Stop the Trial” posters all over Coatham, hung on lamp posts by environmental activists, but in front windows by residents. There is a lack of confidence in this scheme among local people, and NGN would do well not to bury their heads in the sand about it. As for how widespread support for the scheme is, NGN, as far as we can ascertain, does not have the data to support their assertion.

On the other hand, we should also, in fairness, point out that NGN has been left to manage public relations on its own. A job quite inappropriately outsourced by DESNZ. Or rather, a job offloaded by a government that is preoccupied with things other than our energy future.

Vocal opponents of the scheme wish there to be further discussion on the suitability of hydrogen for domestic heating. Rather than discuss the issue with them, some supporters of the hydrogen trial set out to demonise them. Redcar MP, Jacob Young, for example, who told the BBC with regard to the Whitby scheme,

"It's disappointing to see that this project and Cadent Gas Ltd have been the subjects of a campaign of mistruths in Whitby, which has led to undue concern amongst Whitby residents."

Our energy future is a vitally important issue, that requires proper, well-informed discussion.  NGN, as stakeholders in this, would do well to give a wide berth to those who, like Jacob Young, set out to politicise and trivialise it.

But Young’s intervention may help us to understand a conundrum about the hydrogen trials, which is why the scheme in Fife proceeds without generating widespread public distrust, while in Whitby people complained of being treated ‘like lab rats’ and in Redcar there are calls for the issue to be put to public vote. The same safety issues apply to all three schemes, but the political climate is different. And it is, arguably, that difference in climate rather than differences in how the trials are run that determines public attitudes to them.

It is hard for a government that is interminably at war with itself to inspire confidence in its ability to manage innovation. It simply cannot muster public trust, and outsourcing responsibility for building that trust to an organisation like NGN doesn’t work.

 The difference in Scotland is that the government in Holyrood provides people there with a degree of insulation against the political turbulence that is so pervasive in England. From an early stage, both the Scottish government and Fife Council supported the hydrogen trial in Buckhaven. The recent pronouncements by the new minister for Energy Security, Claire Coutinho, on the other hand, are, as best, too little too late.  

NGN has set up a meeting for residents on 18 December. We are curious to find out if DESNZ provides someone to answer questions. (We’re not optimistic).

But are people’s fears about the safety of the scheme well founded?  We had a look at the evidence.

How thorough has NGN been about safety?

The short answer to that question is that they have actually been more careful than their advertising suggests. Presumably because they don’t want to remind people of what has happened in the past when things have gone wrong.

While there are occasional safety issues with gas supply, the gas distribution networks, like NGN, are keen to point out that these are rare, and they are committed to maintaining safety standards. If, for the sake of argument, we allow NGN that it will cut no corners in ensuring that gas supplies to households is safe at the point of use, is that sufficient to claim that scheme is safe? In fact, it’s nice, but it’s not enough.

In 2022, NGN was fined £5 million by the Health and Safety Executive following an incident in Mirfield in West Yorkshire where a fractured cast iron gas main led to an explosion outside a house. The occupant of the house later died of injuries sustained in the blast.

That does not, in itself, indicate that NGN is generally negligent, but two issues are relevant to the Redcar trial. Modern gas mains are polyethylene, not cast iron. Old, cast iron, mains are most likely to be found, as in Mirfield, in areas where the housing stock is also old. As in Coatham.

The application document for the trial indicates that 89% of the gas main in Coatham is polyethylene, which is fine unless your house is supplied by part of the other 11%. But, in fact, the application also states that the cast iron main will be converted to hydrogen-ready pipeline “either through the Iron Gas Main Reduction Programme or by the HVT [hydrogen village trial]”.

That should be enough to allay any fears about the safety of the gas main. Except it isn’t. The summary information on the Mirfield incident states:

“Upon investigation, the HSE found that this main did not appear in Northern Gas Networks drawings”.

So, NGN didn’t maintain the pipeline because they didn’t know about it. In another judgement, HSE fined the National Grid £4 million for the following:

“When National Grid Gas sold part of its operations to Cadent Gas in 2016, they did not transfer the records of many buildings. That meant condition surveys, inspections, and routine maintenance had been missing for years.”

So, can the people of Coatham be satisfied that NGN actually knows where all the older pipeline actually is? Could there be bits missing from their records? In fact, it appears that this has also now been cleared up, via a scheme called the National Underground Asset register (NUAR), which maps all underground pipework and cabling. The register for the North East went live in April this year, which means that there should be no risk of unknown pipelines in Coatham.

So, the loose ends have probably been tied up by and for NGN. Yet local residents remain suspicious. Sentiment expressed here, as in Whitby, Ellesmere Port, is of being ‘guinea pigs’ or ‘lab rats’ in a scheme that is being forced on them. This is in stark contrast to the situation in Fife, where there has been, as far as we know, no similar opposition. Which leads us to consider wider issues that may be affecting public attitudes to the scheme.

What are the alternatives to hydrogen?

One of the issues that is highlighted by the Redcar is the problem of alternatives to hydrogen heating. Those who do not wish to participate in the scheme are being offered alternative heating systems. One of the systems on offer is to install air source heat pumps. In an area where the predominant housing is in terraces with back yards, these are wholly unsuitable. Back yards are too small to house them. So, the only alternative is to install an electric boiler.

While those who participate in the hydrogen trial will have their bills capped so that they remain comparable with natural gas supply, those who do not participate are not similarly subsidised. They may get a free boiler, but they then pay the full market rate for electricity to power it.

Staff in the Hub explained that one of the groups most enthusiastic about the scheme are renters, as they are being offered upgrades to appliances that they could not hope to get from their landlords. This may be true, but the true benefits apply only to those whose landlords are happy for them to participate in the trial. Tenants who may not participate will be faced with much higher heating bills while the trial is ongoing. And, not to put too fine a point on it, the well-heeled of Redcar do not live in Coatham. The people who live here can ill afford the hike in energy prices.

Perhaps, of course, we are overstating the significance of this. Maybe the dissatisfaction of the residents of Coatham really is focused 100% on the shortcomings of NGN. But even if that is the case, it may not, in the end, be local opposition that brings this project down. There are other factors at play.

NGN‘s partner, Net Zero Teesside

NGN’s application to DESNZ comes with a helpful picture:

When DESNZ got this, they knew exactly what they were getting. A picture showing a number of facilities, some of which exist and some of which don’t. The relevant bits that exist in real life are the Navigator Terminals (for above-ground hydrogen storage), the Sembcorp underground salt cavern storage (for below-ground hydrogen storage), and BOC Teesside Hydrogen (hydrogen production facility). Things shown that do not exist in real life are the “electrolysis hydrogen production facility”, “turquoise hydrogen production facility” and Bran Sands Bio Methane Plant”. Not shown on the map at all is anything named Net Zero Teesside.

The omission of Net Zero Teesside (NZT) is curious, as the fact that the NZT consortium are partners in the trial is mentioned at various points in the document. But they are still there in the shadows as the electrolyser at Wilton will be theirs as well as the turquoise hydrogen facility. Another omission from the picture is the Carbon Capture and Storage facility which  we expect to be sited not far from the bio-methane plant.

Now the fact that a number of key facilities based on innovative technology on which the trial depends haven’t been built yet, makes the whole enterprise start to look a bit wobbly. It seems to be based on a whole lot of promises. But then, to be fair, the green hydrogen plant that will supply the H100 Fife trial hasn’t been built yet either, and the Whitby scheme also seems to have been dependent on a number of facilities that were only at the promise stage.

As far as the Net Zero Teesside consortium is concerned their current situation is that they have taken out an option on land near at South Gare, most of it owned by the South Tees Development Corporation. No leasing agreement has yet been signed. Now the consortium has been preparing this since at least 2010, so have already made a big commitment.

But there are problems, one of them the fact the joint venture company, Teesworks, which is preparing the site for redevelopment, is under investigation for corruption. Publication of the official report into that corruption is now long overdue.

When it the investigation was first announced, BP and Equinor reacted, as reported (3 May 2023) by the Daily Telegraph:

“Energy giants BP and Equinor have demanded Britain’s biggest freeport guarantee that it is not corrupt following a Labour “smear” campaign.

“The two companies are understood to have sought legal warranties by chiefs running the vast port in Teesworks, north-east England, as part of a net zero project.

“The allegations are understood to have been of sufficient concern for BP and Equinor to ask for clauses to be inserted in commercial contracts.”

Initially both the Tees Valley mayor and his accusers had asked for an investigation to be carried out by the National Audit Office, but it was decided by Michael Gove that he would set up an ‘independent’ panel to carry out the task. Cue cries of ‘Whitewash!’.

Given that Gove has been Houchen’s cheerleader in government, people’s scepticism about that independence is understandable. The report was initially due for publication in July, but that has repeatedly been moved back. While the evidence submitted showing that Houchen has been keener to serve the interests of the property developers than those of the public is compelling, he has long since been seen as an asset in Conservative party circles. There is little doubt that Gove would like to see him given a clean bill of health by the inquiry.

Had it not been for BP and Equinor’s intervention, the populist solution would probably have won the day – Gove’s team negotiates with the panel members to water down any criticism; Gove spins it as a complete vindication of Houchen; job done. That solution may succeed in soothing the misgivings of the electorate, it is less likely to succeed with investors who are putting up their own money and are already manifestly suspicious.

If the Net Zero consortium chooses to cancel or delay the building of its facilities on the Tees, the knock on effect on the hydrogen trial is significant. NGN has been at pains to ensure that adequate supplies of hydrogen are available throughout the trial. But the only existing, operational source of the gas is the BOC plant in Billingham.  Whether or not is has sufficient capacity to supply the scheme single handedly is unknown, but even if it is, it is problematic in another way.

The BOC plant currently produces ‘grey’ or ‘dirty’ hydrogen - hydrogen obtained from fossil fuels, using a process that generates carbon dioxide. Given that the point of the trial is to supply new, clean energy, to use dirty hydrogen would make the whole thing pointless.

The BOC plant intends to clean up its act by using carbon capture technology, but the carbon capture facility is what is being promised by the Net Zero consortium. If they do not proceed, the carbon capture facility goes with them.

So, in the end, the greatest obstacle to the trial may turn out not to be public opposition after all, but the machinations both at Teesworks and at the DLUHC. It could be that the government itself is ultimately responsible the collapse of the hydrogen project. NGN, as piggy-in-the-middle in all of this, would be powerless to change that.