Hydrogen blending: a step along the path to net zero

The is New Zealand’s first pilot that blended hydrogen into the natural gas network. Fourteen households in Te Horo, on the Kāpiti Coast, received the blended gas starting at 3.5% hydrogen up to 12% by volume, (which translates to 3% energy delivered), through the existing gas distribution network. Our energy future will be shaped by a mix of options, and this work helps us understand the option of hydrogen blending and demonstrates the feasibility of using New Zealand’s existing gas infrastructure to transport hydrogen.

Reaching a 10% and then 12% blend demonstrates that our existing distribution gas pipeline network can safely transport a small blend of hydrogen, with no modifications to the network or the participating homes’ appliances required. It’s an important step in gathering the technical evidence, capability and confidence needed to make more informed energy decisions in the future.

While hydrogen is currently more expensive to produce than natural gas, we hope that costs will fall as global production scales and technology advances. This is why pilots like this are important. By proving the infrastructure, safety case and technical feasibility, we’re working to get New Zealand ready to take advantage of hydrogen if it becomes more available and affordable, as we’ve seen happen with other technologies, such as solar.

We’re not signalling a mass rollout of hydrogen for residential use. The display home in Te Horo shows what’s technically possible with gas appliances. But the focus is on proving the network and safety case so that hydrogen can be an option where it makes sense, particularly in hard-to-electrify sectors. 

Hydrogen is recognised internationally as a potentially renewable gas option that can be stored and transported at large scale. This could make it an ideal complement to solar and wind generation and a valuable tool for helping hard-to-electrify sectors, such as high-heat industries, heavy transport and those already using hydrogen as a feedstock, to decarbonise. 

Renewable hydrogen is currently more expensive than natural gas, just as early solar, wind, and battery technologies were. Costs are falling overseas as production scales up. This pilot ensures that when hydrogen becomes more cost-competitive we are informed and able to respond if necessary.

Electrification will be a big part of the energy future, but some sectors can’t run on electricity alone. High-heat industries, heavy transport, and existing hydrogen feedstock users need other options. Hydrogen could provide a viable low-carbon solution for those sectors. 

Hydrogen blending is already happening in countries like the UK, US, Canada, Japan, and Australia. For example, in Markham, Ontario, Enbridge blends up to 5% hydrogen into its network serving over 3,600 customers. New Zealand is now taking its first steps through this pilot, backed by industry collaboration and regulatory oversight.

Clarus is one of New Zealand’s largest energy groups, with brands that touch many parts of the energy supply chain – from energy transmission and distribution to retail supply and even storage.

Firstgas connects over 60,000 homes and businesses with natural gas through our gas distribution and high-pressure transmission systems, supporting our country’s economy.

Blending renewable hydrogen and natural gas is part of our future fuels strategy to help the country meet its climate action goals. So we’ve been working with some of New Zealand’s natural gas distribution businesses (Vector, Powerco, GasNet and Nova Energy) and energy retailers with active customers on the Te Horo network to explore the potential introduction and blending of a small amount of hydrogen into an existing pipeline.

In 2021 Firstgas released study findings confirming that gas pipeline networks in New Zealand could carry up to 20% hydrogen by 2035, with a move to 100% hydrogen by 2050. We were able to test these findings with New Zealand’s first hydrogen blend pilot in 2025.

• Scalable and dependable
• Low carbon - can be made cleanly using just water and renewable electricity
• Ideal complement to solar and wind electricity generation
• Storable and transportable at large scale

In the future hydrogen in pipelines could provide a low carbon option, particularly for businesses and industry.
Hydrogen could help a range of key industries such as steel, glass and concrete production as well as heavy transport, whose path to decarbonisation would otherwise be very difficult. For the energy sector it represents an additional source of clean energy to displace emissions and meet our net zero targets by 2050.

Hydrogen is being blended into the natural gas pipeline incrementally, starting at 3.5% and moving up to a maximum of 15% near the end of the pilot. The beauty of blending a small percentage of hydrogen with natural gas is that gas appliances operate as they usually do, meaning people can still enjoy all the normal benefits associated with their standard natural gas supply.

Blending equipment has been installed and contained within the current delivery point enclosure on Te Horo Beach Road. No additional modifications to the distribution network have been necessary, and detailed monitoring and verification procedures are in place to ensure network performance during the pilot.

The volumes of natural gas and hydrogen through the station will be metered allowing accurate dosing of hydrogen to be achieved. The final composition of the blended gas will be measured and controlled by gas chromatograph to ensure all requirements of the pilot are met.

Te Horo was selected due to its small and accessible location and pipeline compatibility. We worked with 14 local households who received the blended gas in their home appliances for the duration of the 16 week pilot.

Safety is our highest priority. Five years’ worth of hard work went into planning the pilot. We followed this approach:

1. Coordinated closely with WorkSafe NZ (which is responsible for overseeing energy safety in New Zealand, including for gas networks).
2. Adapted best practice from successful hydrogen-blend pilot projects in existing gas networks overseas.
3. Extensive and detailed technical due diligence on our network assets and on the individual consumer appliances involved in the pilot.
4. Transparent and detailed engagement with WorkSafe, expert consultants, appliance manufacturers and independent verifiers.
5. Regular design and construction reviews to ensure blending equipment met all safety criteria.
6. Detailed monitoring and verification procedures in place to ensure network performance during the pilot itself.
7. Oversight of the pilot by a governance group consisting of senior representatives of each of NZ’s gas distribution businesses.

This Te Horo hydrogen blend pilot will follow in the footsteps of numerous successful international projects of very similar design, most notably in Australia and the United Kingdom. These countries have very similar consumer appliances, gas network materials, operating pressures and standards and have already undertaken similar hydrogen blend pilots as is planned for Te Horo, along with extensive research and development.

A comprehensive review of the international demonstration projects, field tests and research concludes that natural gas blended with hydrogen up to 15mol% is compatible for use in consumer appliances and in our gas networks.

Hydrogen blended gas performs in almost the same way as natural gas does without hydrogen. This includes flame colour (which is unchanged), odorisation and for all practical purposes, ‘time to-boil’.

A similar study undertaken by Gas Networks Ireland found “there were no observed perceptible changes in the operation of the appliances using hydrogen blends, and current domestic meters demonstrated compatibility with hydrogen blends for volume measurement”.

We know hydrogen blending can be done because it’s already happening overseas. Over 30 countries currently have a national hydrogen strategy in place and $70 billion of funding has been committed globally over 228 ongoing projects. A huge amount of research is underway in the UK and Australia and networks are already successfully piloting blends of up to 20% hydrogen to reduce their emissions. Hydrogen boilers are also in the advanced stages of development and testing, as well as ‘hydrogen ready’ boilers, which can easily be switched over by a technician when networks transition to hydrogen.

Firstgas regularly collaborates with key partners on hydrogen programmes overseas. This includes being a contributing member of the Future Fuels Cooperative Research Centre in Australia and maintaining regular engagement with engineers from IGEM in the United Kingdom on their hydrogen blend and 100% hydrogen demonstration projects.