With one of its first certificated 100% hydrogen boilers now in place at the H21 test site in South Bank, Middlesbrough, the team from Vaillant involved with its installation and testing reflect on what it means to the industry.
The H21 South Bank project, led by Northern Gas Networks with support from DNV, is carrying out research to assess the suitability of the UK’s existing gas network, with a view to eventually transforming it to 100% hydrogen.
Mark Wilkins, technologies and training director at Vaillant, said: “Vaillant has carried out a great deal of work testing the appliance in a lab, so this is a chance to get the boiler into the field and use it in the real world. Our installation will start to inform the project on findings such as controlling flammability and installation requirements, ahead of hydrogen boilers being produced on a mass scale.
“This trial will also provide validation of the various steps required between installation and commissioning of the appliance and will start to inform the next stages of field trials as we move from a single house to a village, to a full town; getting us even closer to a hydrogen reality.”
“We are very proud to be part of the field trial here at Middlesbrough as it is a ground-breaking project in terms of the decarbonisation of the UK’s energy grid,” added Paul Honeyman, head of product development for Vaillant.
“Our hydrogen boiler is a result of many years of development and predevelopment work by our teams in Remscheid, Germany. Multiple teams have worked on each element, resulting in a high-quality product that will help pave the way for our net-zero future. I’m delighted that this hard work and expertise has paid off, and we are now able to install and commission a 100% hydrogen boiler for the first time.”
David Parker, product manager for Vaillant’s hydrogen ready and 100% hydrogen products, said: “This boiler has been specifically designed to run solely on hydrogen from the outset. The burner is a smaller design, the ports are smaller and grouped differently because of the flame speed. Flame detection equipment is specifically made to read the hydrogen flame and the fan system is designed expressly for this purpose.”
“The work we are doing here will help to understand how hydrogen products work in real situations and will inform consultations for the future. The site here was perfect as it uses existing gas pipework that has been adapted to replicate how the gas would work across the grid on a domestic scale. This will help answer many of the questions installers have on how it will perform in our homes.”
