The network operator said the first phase of Project Union would connect industrial hubs in Teesside, Yorkshire, and the Humber down to the East Midlands.

It will form the first segment of the planned 1,500-mile national hydrogen network to transport the gas from production and storage hubs to end-users.

National Gas has already secured £164m ($219m) in funding from UK energy regulator Ofgem for the East Coast development.

Parts of the network will reuse existing natural gas pipelines. However, new-build infrastructure will be focused on the Humber region, where National Gas, alongside energy firms Centrica, Equinor, and SSE Thermal, are bidding to secure UK funding for a 54km hydrogen pipeline.

Phase one of Project Union is expected to connect to the Humber network.

National Gas Chief Commercial Officer, Ian Radley, said the region was a “natural place” to start the backbone.

“It’s one of Britain’s most important industrial heartlands with enormous hydrogen potential,” he said.

The project is now in a two-year front-end engineering design phase, where National Gas is establishing the pipeline’s design, environmental assessment, consents, and public consultation.

A start date for the first phase, and the entire network, has not been confirmed.

However, CEO of trade group Hydrogen UK, Clare Jackson, said the development of the backbone was “essential” to unlocking investment and supporting reindustrialisation.

“By connecting hydrogen production with the industries that need it, infrastructure like this will help ensure British industry remains competitive in the global energy transition while strengthening the UK’s energy security,” she said.

The announcement comes amid slow progress in the UK hydrogen sector.

Last week at the Hydrogen UK Annual Conference, Kim McCann, Global Energy Advisory Director at environmental consultant SLR Consulting, said other regions with less policy support than the UK were “running ahead.”

Under the UK’s flagship subsidy scheme – the Hydrogen Allocation Rounds – just two projects have reached FID.