User-Focused Evaluation of Hydrogen Integration for a Gas Distribution Network in Southern Italy

The European Union is reducing its dependencies on fossil fuels, including natural gas, to meet decarbonisation objectives for 2050. However, in 2023, Natural Gas accounted for 17% of the energy source and an extensive infrastructure supporting it. This reason is pushing researchers towards numerous studies in natural gas blending with green fuels from renewable sources including biogas or green hydrogen. Despite ongoing research, it is necessary to investigate the impact of the hydrogen injection into the network from a user perspective, as the lower heat value of the resulting mixture will inevitably be reduced with the addition of low calorific fuel like hydrogen. For this purpose, this study evaluates the potential feasibility of hydrogen introduction into a real network from an Italian case study, focusing on lower heat value analysis, gas interchangeability and user consumption. After evaluating gas quality parameters such as Wobbe Index, specific gravity and Higher Heating Value it was possible to estimate the maximum value of blending hydrogen into the distribution of a ring-topology network to be 13.50 % and its impact on CO2 reduction.