Use It Or Lose It (UIOLI) Fund
Overview of NGN Futures projects
In 2023/24 NGN has allocated its UIOLI across a number of projects which predominately focused on understanding the role that gas would play in helping to achieve the UK Net Zero emissions targets.
We have also focused on developing a strategy and roadmap for energy futures that considers the impact of changes across the whole energy system. This will help to ensure that we deploy the UIOLI in its most effective manner.
In our strategy analysis we identified a range of actions that NGN could implement to prepare the business for potential future scenarios, which differ by importance, urgency, cost and progress to date as shown by the figure below.
Any steps taken will prioritise the ‘low regrets’ actions which are relevant in multiple future scenarios
East Coast Hydrogen
East Coast Hydrogen is a 15-year infrastructure project led by NGN, Cadent, and National Grid, and supported by a consortium of partners across the hydrogen value chain.
The project will establish connections among hydrogen supply, demand, and storage locations using a combination of repurposed and new pipelines. The project will create a regional hydrogen backbone capable of delivering hydrogen to industrial and commercial users across the east coast of northern England to underpin their decarbonisation goals.
During RIIO-2, we completed the Pre-FEED study which included a technical feasibility assessment and route design optioneering. The Pre-FEED analysis highlights that hydrogen is one of the most viable decarbonisation options for Britain’s industries and businesses and highlights the magnitude of potential hydrogen market through primary conversations with our consumers, producers and storge providers. It will be the first major step in the conversion of our national gas networks to hydrogen and will act as a blueprint for subsequent conversions across the UK. The project also demonstrates the innovation, engineering capabilities and economic opportunity in the North, and creates tens of thousands of highly skilled green jobs in the future hydrogen economy.
NGN plans to invest more of its UIOLI in 2024/25 to progress the East Coast Hydrogen project to generate evidence to support an application for additional funding to commence the project build through the Net Zero Pre-construction and Small Net Zero Projects Re-opener later in RIIO-2.
Costing the carbon commitment
The aim of the Costing the Carbon Commitment project was to identify cost optimal pathways to decarbonising the UK energy system by 2050, adhering to the UK Government carbon budgets. The project was funded using UIOLI and brought together stakeholders from across the UK’s energy value chain.
The project identified principal factors driving the cost of different credible decarbonisation routes and provided recommendations on the low regrets interventions that should be prioritised by policy and decision makers to enable fair transition to clean energy systems. We’ve identified that the costing the carbon commitment project could evolve into creating a whole systems energy model capable of serving the needs of regional strategic energy planning.
