Call for Tender – moving away from hydrogen to heat buildings – study report

Background and policy context

Space and water heating appliances installed in buildings are contributing around 12% of the total EU annual CO2 emissions. More than 75% of these technologies heavily rely on fossil fuel energy sources, especially on fossil gas. Hence, it is pivotal to reduce the dependency and installation of gas boilers to decarbonise residential heating, and the main action to pursue is to boost the deployment of heat pumps and hybrid appliances.

Boiler manufacturers and gas industry are currently pushing for hydrogen-fuelled boilers to decarbonise the built environment. The gas industry wants to commercialise a conversion toolkit, so as to enable a conversion to 100% hydrogen ready appliance, to be provided directly to customers.

There are serious concerns about the technical feasibility aspects of hydrogen-based boilers , which are regularly avoided or minimised in the policy arena and in the heating roundtable of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance. Safety and maintenance are a matter of concern with boilers running on hydrogen and so are lower energy efficiency and higher prices to consumers.

A second issue is that hydrogen produced from renewable energy will be very limited in the future and should be prioritised for those sectors where direct renewable electrification is difficult or impossible, such as energy intensive industry (cement, concrete, steel), aviation and maritime transport.

The ecodesign and energy labelling regulations for space and combination heaters (EC 2013/813 and EC 2013/811) and for water heaters and storage tanks (EC 2013/814 and EC 2013/812) are currently being reviewed. Draft acts are under preparations with a new upcoming feedback period later this year and a planned final adoption in 2023. The European Commission is also reviewing EU gas market rules.

Objective

The goal of the study is to assess and evaluate the technical feasibility of retrofitting existing gas boilers, taking as reference a medium-size natural gas-fuelled central heating boiler, serving space heating purpose for single family dwelling, to either pure hydrogen or blended gas/hydrogen commodities, highlighting the technological and economical barriers of such a transformation from component and material perspectives.

Hence, the goal is to answer to this main question: Is retrofitting gas boilers to accommodate hydrogen, either as blended or pure, technically possible?
This should include an evaluation of safety issues, as hydrogen could be a more dangerous energy carrier than fossil gas.

Outcome

The work will produce a compilation of the technical and economic consequences deriving from a transition from gas to hydrogen boilers, assessing and ranking them by importance. The compilation will provide arguments to be used to counter the industry narrative in policy and standardisation efforts.
The following main scenarios will be considered:

• Hydrogen blended with gas (relevant shares to be identified).
• 100% hydrogen boiler (replacing entirely gas).

The following aspects need to be considered in both scenarios: the impact of hydrogen on the components of the gas boiler, on the material and efficiency perspectives as well as on the safety and maintenance risks during operation.

Scope

The study will focus on the following detailed research questions:

• According to the blending shares and pure hydrogen configuration, what will the steps for such conversion be?
• What are the principal obstacles to accommodate hydrogen in existing gas boilers? What are the main components of a gas boiler affected by the use of hydrogen as a fuel, both as blended and pure hydrogen?
• Is there a real possibility to have a toolkit to make consumer convert boilers to 100% hydrogen?
• What is the maximum blended hydrogen share in gas boilers that would not dramatically affect the operation of the appliance?
• From the safety point of view, what are the risks with hydrogen boilers, for both blended and pure hydrogen?
• What are the risks of hydrogen boilers, both for blended and pure hydrogen, e.g. associated with the materials of components or combustion process?

Tasks & Outputs

The study and its outcomes will be delivered in a report, containing the following chapters:

• Background, providing the context of the work.
• Objective and scope, framing the boundaries.
• Methodology and data sources, stating all the technical considerations and assumptions.
• Analysis of the conversion, assessing the problems of blending/full H2, including infographics showing the main results.
• Ranking of the technical issues, by importance from highest to lowest.
• Conclusion, highlighting the main takeaways and recommendations.
• Bibliography.

ECOS expects this report to be as visual as possible, including figures, real-life pictures, and labels and the Grantee will provide when possible and relevant key facts and figures to ECOS to be used in communication materials (such as infographics, and visual representations).
A final webinar will be set up to present the key results via a relevant platform, facilitated by ECOS.
The length of the report should not exceed 50 pages (excluding references and annexes)

The tenderer will assign to ECOS the exclusive right to own and use the outputs of this study. The authors will be acknowledged in the published ECOS report.

Tender preparation

Tenderers are requested to submit a proposal by 23:59 CET on 20st August 2022 to info@ecostandard.org (and in CC – marco.grippa@ecostandard.org) outlining:

• A brief description of the tenderer’s understanding of the analysis demanded.
• A description of the anticipated activities, relevant timeline with milestones, and proposed outputs.
• A description of how close coordination with ECOS will be ensured throughout the project.
• Budgeting for each element of the work.
• CVs and time availability of the key staff delivering the work, as well as their areas of expertise, as well as references if available.

Note that sub-contracting is accepted in cases where a delivery team involves individuals from different institutions or organisations. In this case, the Grantee retains responsibility for legal and financial arrangements for any sub-contracting.

Budget

The budget available for this work is maximum €35,000 (including VAT), and all other costs will be incurred by the Grantee.

Project implementation

Delivery of the study will involve active contribution from and regular coordination with ECOS. The key milestones include:

• Signature of the contract
• Kick-off meeting
• Interim meeting
• Final meeting and webinar

Throughout the implementation of the project, the Grantee will prepare at least:

• An inception document (presenting the structure of the report and the methodology identified, send to ECOS ahead of the kick-off meeting).
• An interim presentation (to send to ECOS ahead of the interim meeting and to present at the interim meeting).
• A final report and presentation of the key finding through a dedicated webinar (to send to ECOS ahead of the final meeting and to present on the final meeting).

Timeline

The report should be published, and the contract should be completed by the Grantee by 31st December 2022. A kick-off meeting will be held with the successful applicant(s) in the month of August 2022, depending on the management team and Grantee’s availability.

Tender Assessment

Assessment of the tenders will be made by an appointed selection committee, using a pre-agreed evaluation template. The award criteria are:

• 70% quality:
  • delivery team expertise (CVs + relevant experience to be provided) and efficient coordination with ECOS.
  •  relevance of application.
  • usefulness of the expected outcome for communication.
• 30% price

Only short-listed tenderers will be contacted.

The fact of publishing a procurement procedure does not oblige ECOS to award the contract to a tenderer simply because its tender fulfils those criteria. It also reserves the right to decide not to award the contract to any tenderer and to cancel the procedure at any time before award.