In Ukraine, preparations have begun for testing a gas-hydrogen mixture for heating two separate settlements, residents of two villages with 50-100 houses will start using a gas-hydrogen gas mixture in two years. This is stated in a press release from the Regional Gas Company (RGK), which specializes in management consulting in the gas distribution sector.
The company reports that a practical experiment using a gas-hydrogen mixture will begin in 2023 and will last until 2025. During this time, additional features of the use of hydrogen in the conditions of ordinary households will be studied.
Before the start of the tests, in order to achieve an appropriate level of security, the local network will be specially prepared, and the houses will be equipped with sensors and alarms.
It is noted that the preliminary results of the RGC hydrogen project, which has been running since August 2020 at five landfills, confirm that 30% hydrogen concentration in the gas mixture is safe for network models that are as close as possible to those existing in Ukraine.
It is expected that the first stage of the experiment will not need to change the gas equipment in consumer homes. However, as the concentration of hydrogen in natural gas increases, it may be necessary to replace burners in some gas appliances.
Now, within the framework of the RGK hydrogen project, dynamic experiments are continuing, when a gas-hydrogen mixture in different proportions is tested on household gas appliances and gas meters, but at landfills without consumers and in closed networks. They will last until mid-2022 to anticipate all possible risks.
“We are creating a project similar to HyDeploy in the UK, which attracts about 10,000 consumers. This project is working in test mode, but has already gone beyond the experiment. This is already part of a gas distribution network with hydrogen, ”says Stanislav Kazda, Director of the Strategic Planning Department of RGC.
Previously reported that the largest gas operators in Australia have already started supplying residential consumers with a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen. One of these operators, APA, estimates that up to $ 11 trillion will be invested in the global hydrogen sector. The Australian Government's National Hydrogen Strategy, released at the end of 2019, outlines plans to convert up to 10% of the domestic gas network to hydrogen transport.
Recall that on August 20, 2020 in Volyn an experiment took place on the use of hydrogen in the gas distribution network. According to the representatives of Volyngaz, the experiments were carried out within the framework of the EU Hydrogen Strategy, which was joined by the Regional Gas Company. The purpose of the experiment is to test it is possible to use hydrogen as an alternative form of energy and transport it using existing gas distribution networks. In addition, the experiments will help to find out the sufficiency of the tightness of the gas networks of Ukraine for the transportation of hydrogen, since the density of this chemical element is less than that of natural gas.
