"A national transition from natural gas to hydrogen is increasingly seen as a likely, perhaps necessary, component of full decarbonisation by 2050\. Large scale hydrogen markets may provide essential cross-vector system balancing and inter-seasonal energy storage for an energy system dominated by the UK's abundant renewables, especially high-capacity factor, offshore wind and marine resources. This gas to hydrogen transition can most effectively build out from the UK's critical natural gas infrastructure.

The Milford Haven Waterway is at the centre of nationally important energy infrastructure, with major energy related investment underway, targeting efficiency and decarbonisation. Facilities include South Hook LNG terminal, Dragon LNG terminal, RWE's 2.2GW CCGT, and National Grid's NTS pipeline that connects the Milford Haven Waterway with other assets like Grain LNG terminal, in Kent, and St Fergus gas terminal, Aberdeenshire.

The Milford Haven Energy Kingdom Detailed Design project will focus on developing diverse, local seed markets to support the transition, to hydrogen and renewables, of the cluster of major energy infrastructure along the Milford Haven Waterway. This transition will occur via a mixture of pathways available locally -- meeting heating and transportation needs of local communities, including via fuel cell vehicles; creating transport solutions for Pembrokeshire's 4.2 million annual tourists; H2 production from curtailed onshore wind and solar generators; and improving off-take markets for offshore renewables in the South-Western Approaches, including the consented Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone (PDZ).

Project partners Pembrokeshire County Council, Riversimple, Milford Haven Port Authority, Wales and West Utilities, and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, with assistance and support from Energy Systems Catapult, RWE, Western Power Distribution, Arup and Welsh Government Energy Services, will design a local, renewables-hydrogen energy system for the Milford Haven Waterway. This will feature a flexibility trading platform to lower costs for consumers using hydrogen-ready hybrid heat pumps and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and to help lift constraints on local development of solar, wind and offshore renewable power generation. A novel system architecture will allow integration from national to local network levels, and future integration of major natural gas infrastructure and current and future large-scale hydrogen infrastructure.

The project will immediately build hydrogen-ready features and technologies into the Port's housing, commercial and renewables projects and will allow local people to test real-world hydrogen vehicles and home heating equipment."