SPHERE
#42
2017
17
>>
The energy business requires ...
1st Class Power Chief Engineer –
Unlimited.
HEALTHY DIET, CLEAN ENERGY
Muscles without power lie limp.
Mitochondria fuel our cells with energy, and
utilities power our cities and our countryside
with electricity. The sources of that energy
are on the mind of Northern Gas Networks
and its Special Adviser to the CEO and H21
Programme Director, Dan Sadler. Mr Sadler
was formerly the Head of Investment
Planning and Major Projects, mostly
concerned with business plans and satisfying
regulatory requirements. The old role, while
critical to the business, had a shorter-term
outlook, ticking the boxes for regulatory
requirements and short-term planning.
But there is a new reality that Northern
Gas Networks – and energy firms around
the world – are facing. Governments are
leaning on energy providers to help them
achieve goals set in supranational bodies,
with planetary objectives in mind. In Britain,
the national government has reacted by
creating successive agencies to connect
international counterparts, domestic
businesses, municipal governments, local
non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
and community groups to each other.
Mr Sadler has worked in these agencies, at
the centre of a broad and complex dialogue.
His expertise in this area is now critical to
providing partnership-oriented solutions in
this new era, going beyond the traditional
utility providers’ role of delivering safe,
reliable and cheap energy.
One clear example of this kind of work
is the H21 project in Leeds, an important
city with a population of around 660,000
(including surrounding areas) in Northern
Gas Networks’ area. This city, as envisioned
in the H21 report, will see its gas network
being converted to hydrogen – its solution
for a carbon-free future.
Hydrogen will be provided via steam
methane reforming (combining methane
with steam to break the methane down to
produce hydrogen) and salt cavern storage
would play a part. The H21 authors believe
“the availability of low-cost bulk hydrogen
in a gas network could revolutionise the
potential for hydrogen vehicles and, via
fuel cells, support a decentralised model
of combined heat and power and localised
power generation”.
Northern Gas Networks has become a
key player working with local and national
governments, using the skill sets of people
like Mr Sadler, to create plans for cleaner
energy source adoption in the future.
While it is likely that numerous forms of
energy will play a role in the future of heat
in the UK, moving to a hydrogen network
presents an affordable energy option with
minimal impact on customers. The gas
networks company is looking to the future
and investing in resources and people to
ensure Northern England’s energy is secure,
affordable and environmentally friendly.
Not only will this benefit local residents,
but it will make Northern Gas Networks a
major supporter of Britain’s contributions
to international efforts to reduce carbon-
driven climate change.
