This year’s Utility Week Live featured the first Gas Innovation Showcase. The showcase brought together the five UK gas distribution and transmission networks – Cadent, National Grid Gas Transmission, Northern Gas Networks, SGN, and Wales & West Utilities – and the industry’s trade association, the Energy Networks Association.
One of the key projects showcased over the two days was an initiative to explore Gas Decarbonisation Pathways. This involves all five gas networks and aims to build a low-cost, low-carbon network and develop new technologies that make the most of biogas, bioSNG, hydrogen and smart hybrid heating systems.
The Future of Gas session in the Network theatre also explored the role for gas in decarbonising heat, transport and other energy vectors.
The general consensus seems to be that one size won’t fit all. The industry has already worked to reduce carbon emissions but there are challenges ahead as networks aim to achieve ambitious targets. All of this is being delivered against a backdrop of customers’ shifting expectations and the role of emerging technologies.
At Utility Week Live it was great to see collaboration in action and an acknowledgement that a multitude of tailored solutions is the way forward.