The £32m ($39m) project was originally planned to go live this year (2024), enabling around 300 houses in the Buckhaven and Denbeath areas to be supplied with heat from the “world’s first” 100% green hydrogen gas network.

A statement released by SGN said it was aiming to bring the trial online in the summer of 2025, noting the delays were caused by “supply chain and procurement challenges.”

Over 65% of the 8.2km hydrogen network has been installed so far, with the hydrogen production and storage facility in Fife Energy Park making “good progress.” SGN said work to install an electrolyser had begun.

Construction of the hydrogen demonstration homes have also been completed and are now being fitted with the necessary appliances. Last March (2023), Baxi agreed to supply hydrogen boilers to the H100 Fife project.

Read more: Baxi to supply fully hydrogen boilers to H100 Fife project

The trial was named as the lead project to provide evidence to the UK Government on its decision on the future of hydrogen for heating in 2026, after the two projects in the running to become the ‘Hydrogen Villages’ were scrapped following local opposition.

Cadent in July (2023) confirmed the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said its plans to see hydrogen used in the gas network in Whitby, Ellemere Port, would not be taken forward for funding.

A DESNZ spokesperson told H2 View, “We have always said we wouldn’t force these trials on communities without their support, and we have listened to the people of Whitby after they raised their concerns.”

Just months later, Northern Gas Networks (NGN) had its plans for a Hydrogen Village trial in Redcare scrapped by the government due to there not being “adequate low-carbon hydrogen” for the trial, despite residents calling for an independent vote on the plans.

Read more: Redcar Hydrogen Village trial plans scrapped by UK Government

While hydrogen for heating is slated as a zero-carbon solution due to the ability to reuse existing infrastructure, public perception of the pathway remains a significant barrier.

Speaking on an exclusive H2 View webinar last week, Rob Duffin, Director of Hydrogen, CCUS and Synthetic Fuels at Arup, claimed something must be done in the UK to decarbonise heating.

“The public perception of hydrogen is that there is a lack of awareness of the challenge in the decarbonisation of heat,” he said. “There is a perception that doing nothing is an option. In the UK where heat is required nine months of the year, we have to do something.”

Read more: Hydrogen industry has a ‘huge way to go’ on public perception, H2 View webinar hears