• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • Net Zero Festival
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      BusinessGreen Technology & Investment Forum 2021

      Investors and sustainable tech firms are invited to sign up to BusinessGreen's Tech & Investment Forum to explore the investment opportunities offered by the UK's fast expanding green economy.

      • Date: 12 May 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Nature 2021

      Net Zero Nature brings together global experts, business leaders, NGO’s and innovators to explore why protecting and restoring nature is fundamental to global economic prosperity, investigate the transformative changes businesses must make now to avoid extinction, and consider best practices and latest developments. Register now to secure your place for a unique day of learning, leadership and practical insight.

      • Date: 27 May 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2021

      From blue chips and start-ups to cutting edge clean tech providers and transforming incumbents, the Awards will honour the very best of UK green business, offering a unique opportunity for the environmental business community to join together to celebrate their many successes and collaborate on the next phase of the net zero transition.

      • Date: 22 Sep 2021
      • Virtual Event, Worldwide
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 29 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • Net Zero Festival
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • Hydrogen
  • Green jobs & skills
  • Net Zero Nature
  • Technology & Investment Forum
Bgnzh20 1225 125 energie ribbon
  • Energy

Is hydrogen the silver bullet for decarbonising gas networks?

Danielle Stewart is long-term strategy manager at National Grid | Credit: National Grid
Danielle Stewart is long-term strategy manager at National Grid | Credit: National Grid
  • National Grid
  • 01 October 2020
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

National Grid's long term strategy manager, Danielle Stewart, discusses the role for hydrogen as the UK gas grid plots its path to net zero over the coming decades

As we head into the second day of the Net Zero Festival hosted this week by BusinessGreen, Danielle Stewart - long-term strategy manager at National Grid - gives her thoughts on the path to net zero for gas transmission, and what role hydrogen can play.

As a long-term strategy manager at National Grid, Stewart is responsible for plotting the path to net zero for gas transmission. Having spent 11 years in academia at the University of Warwick becoming a postdoctoral researcher and tutor, she joined National Grid over a decade ago as a network analyst in the Gas Transmission Control Room.

Related articles

  • Zoom in on net zero - with HSBC's Farnam Bidgoli
  • 'A lot of mainstream financiers saw us as a bunch of hippies': James Alexander reflects on UKSIF at 30
  • 'We want to make the bus cool': Inside Arrival, the $13bn British electric vehicle start-up
  • Net Zero Finance: Navigating the booming climate, green and transition bond market

She's done lots of different jobs since then, from using computer modelling to advise and assist the control room on balancing supply and demand, to managing a £3bn capital investment programme. And for the past year, she's been working on a strategy to help gas reach net zero by 2050.

"Currently, 85 per cent of homes are heated by natural gas and 40 per cent of electricity is generated using gas, but this gas produces harmful carbon emissions, which is why we are exploring alternatives such as hydrogen," Stewart says.

As long as the production is decarbonised, hydrogen is much cleaner as it doesn't give off carbon when it burns - it's only by-product is water, so it has great potential when it comes to cleaner heating. And, while EVs are growing in popularity for domestic use, in the future hydrogen could be used to power freight and rail traffic.

"I spend my time investigating how we could make the switch to hydrogen," she says. "This means getting a detailed understanding of how this will affect the existing gas infrastructure and how we need to invest and innovate to help make the transition to cleaner energy. Part of my job is working alongside policymakers and the government, to inform them about what we would need to do to transition to a hydrogen network."

There is also a significant consumer element, Stewart explains. "It's vital that any change we make is as cost effective as possible, to minimise any impact on the most vulnerable people," she adds. "It also needs to cause as little disruption as possible. This is one of the reasons that we are looking into hydrogen - people are used to having gas in their homes for heating and cooking, so moving to a different, cleaner type of gas should be an easier transition."

But she also believes that there needs to be more action. "Over the last 12 months, the whole industry has been focused on the legally binding targets. That's a great start but we need to take more bold action. There are small step change decisions that can be made to accelerate the change and give investors and consumers the confidence in the direction we are taking."

BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival will be followed by a Net Zero Skills Summit in October, looking at the skills gap and what the industry needs to do to create the Net Zero Energy Workforce needed to achieve the 2050 target.

Stewart believes that to rise to the challenge posed by climate change "we need a diverse range of people at every stage of their career to take up green collar jobs". Earlier this year, National Grid published research showing the UK will need to recruit hundreds of thousands of people into its energy sector if it is to meet its target to deliver net zero emissions by 2050.

But in order to recruit that future workforce, businesses like National Grid need to work with schools and charities to make the energy sector an attractive career choice, Stewart argues. "I have worked with a charity called Sevenoaks School Foundation and the Kent Academies Network, which together work with young people to help them overcome barriers to pursuing higher education," she explains. "They run workshops and events with university students and professionals to offer advice to these students, and I have attended them to explain my own career path. I also sit on the board of the UK Women's Infrastructure Network and mentor several people at work, as I think encouraging potential is critical at every stage of your career."

 

This is a contributed article from National Grid, which is a partner of the world's first Net Zero Festival taking place this week, as well as the Net Zero Skills Summit on 12 October, which you can sign up for here.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Energy
  • Net Zero Now
  • Skills
  • In-depth
  • National Grid
  • Hydrogen
  • Net Zero Skills Summit
  • Net Zero Festival

More on Energy

Credit: Amazon
    • Energy
Amazon orders up wave of record-breaking renewables projects
    • Energy
    • 19 April 2021
    • Energy
'Not fit for purpose': Powering Past Coal Alliance slammed by NGOs as 'smokescreen' for greenwashing
    • Energy
    • 19 April 2021
    • Wind
Ørsted powers into onshore wind market with Brookfield Renewables deal
    • Wind
    • 19 April 2021
Coal mining is becoming increasingly expensive to finance
    • Energy
'Good news': Study charts contrasting fortunes for coal and renewables financing costs
    • Energy
    • 17 April 2021
Clayhill was the UK's first solar farm to be built without government subsidy | Credit: Anesco
    • Solar
UK subsidy-free solar market shines as intallations surpass 1GW
    • Solar
    • 16 April 2021
Solar panels at Heineken's Zoeterwoude brewery | Credit: Heineken
    • Energy
RE100 initiative hits 300 member milestone
    • Energy
    • 16 April 2021
    • Policy
Green remedy: How a net zero global healthcare sector could help cure planetary ills
    • Policy
    • 16 April 2021
The UK needs to ramp up its electricity capacity to deliver a net zero emissions economy over the next three decades
    • Energy
Will innovating the retail market help drive a transition to net zero?
    • Energy
    • 15 April 2021

More news

Amazon orders up wave of record-breaking renewables projects
  • Energy
Amazon orders up wave of record-breaking renewables projects

Company says plans for nine new utility scale wind and solar projects make it world's largest purchaser of renewable power

  • 19 April 2021
'Not fit for purpose': Powering Past Coal Alliance slammed by NGOs as 'smokescreen' for greenwashing
  • Energy
'Not fit for purpose': Powering Past Coal Alliance slammed by NGOs as 'smokescreen' for greenwashing

UK is failing to lead by example as PPCA co-chair it mulls a brand new coal mine in Cumbria, while financial institutions in group are not acting fast enough to cut ties with sector, report warns

  • 19 April 2021
Ørsted powers into onshore wind market with Brookfield Renewables deal
  • Wind
Ørsted powers into onshore wind market with Brookfield Renewables deal

Offshore wind giant set to snap up 1GW UK and Ireland onshore wind pipeline

  • 19 April 2021
Shell to fund 60 million CO2 offset credits through Africa cookstoves rollout
  • Carbon Trading
Shell to fund 60 million CO2 offset credits through Africa cookstoves rollout

Oil and gas giant teams up with C-Quest Capital to supply 'clean and efficient' cookstoves for 1.5 rural households, generating credits for the voluntary carbon market

  • 19 April 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Facebook posts 'net zero' operational emissions status update
Facebook posts 'net zero' operational emissions status update
Heineken toasts new 'carbon neutral' target
Heineken toasts new 'carbon neutral' target
'Zap Flash': Good Energy to offer electric vehicle drivers free power
'Zap Flash': Good Energy to offer electric vehicle drivers free power
JP Morgan and Citi pledge multi-trillion dollar green finance blitzes
JP Morgan and Citi pledge multi-trillion dollar green finance blitzes
BlackRock and Temasek announce multi-billion dollar climate tech venture capital push
BlackRock and Temasek announce multi-billion dollar climate tech venture capital push
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading