Angela Needle
Director of Strategy, Cadent
The gas network heats homes and powers industry. To help the UK reach net zero, it’s playing its part by reducing emissions, supporting new tech and championing greener gases.
Gas is the unsung hero of the energy system, says Angela Needle, Director of Strategy at Cadent, the UK’s biggest gas network, which transports gas to 11 million UK homes and businesses.
Modernising the UK gas network
When people think about gas — if they think about it at all — it’ll be about how their boiler heats their home and provides them with hot water. “That’s important, of course,” agrees Needle. “But gas does a lot more than that. It’s essential for businesses that rely on hot temperatures, such as glass, brick and steel manufacturers.
“Without gas, we wouldn’t have buildings or cars or wind turbines. Gas heats everything from care homes to swimming pools, and it generates electricity when the wind isn’t blowing. It’s also very reliable and safe.” Yet, people take it for granted because it’s mostly hidden underground in a network of pipes.
Currently, that network is undergoing a vital replacement programme, which has been ongoing for around 30 years and is due to be finished in 2032. “The old iron gas mains are being replaced with more efficient plastic ones,” explains Needle. “Plastic mains are safer, and they leak less. This reduces the amount of methane going into the atmosphere which, in turn, reduces overall carbon emissions.” Cadent is also investing in innovative technologies that enable leaks to be discovered sooner. Both of these measures could reduce methane emissions by around 27% over the next seven years.
Hydrogen will play a major role
in the transition to net zero.
Delivering a three-pronged decarbonisation strategy
However, network upgrading is just one part of the three-pronged decarbonisation strategy on the road to net zero. “We’re also helping people use less gas,” explains Needle. “We’re doing that by supporting the adoption of new technologies while maintaining the reliability and resilience of a gas connection.” For example, if domestic users and businesses install a hybrid heating system — combining a lower carbon-producing heat pump with a gas boiler — they can get most of the heat they require from the heat pump but have a boiler as a backup if needed.
The network is also championing low-carbon gases such as hydrogen. Cadent believes that hydrogen will play a major role in the transition to net zero and, in a trial, has demonstrated that existing boilers and cooking appliances can run on gas that is a blend of up to 20% hydrogen and natural gas. It has also successfully introduced blended gas into industrial manufacturing environments. “There are industries up and down this country that cannot operate without gas and are looking to hydrogen to run their factories in the future,” says Needle.
Making the best use of the existing gas network
Meanwhile, biomethane — the result of the treatment and purification of biogas, a by-product of organic materials such as food and agricultural waste — is a completely renewable replacement for natural gas. “Biomethane is not fossil methane so doesn’t add to carbon emissions,” says Needle. “We just have to get more of it into the gas network.”
Thankfully, a big benefit of the mains replacement programme is that the new plastic pipes are compatible with these future, greener gases. “So, if we slowly decrease the amount of fossil gas and increase the amount of hydrogen and biomethane, homes and businesses will become greener over time,” explains Needle. “We think this ‘mixed molecule’ approach is more pragmatic. The gas network already exists and works really well. We’re investing in it to make it more reliable, safer and greener. In the move to net zero, we have to understand that decommissioning it or replacing it with something else would be significantly more expensive. Let’s make the best use of it instead.”
