Britain's national gas network is ready to accommodate hydrogen as a fuel to power homes and industry, a report based on a trial carried out by National Gas showed on Wednesday, which owns and operates the gas transmission network.

Replacing natural gas with hydrogen is viewed as a way to help reduce carbon emissions and dependency on fossil fuels.

The previous UK government supported blending up to 20% of hydrogen by volume in the gas distribution network if enabled.

The trial tested the blending of hydrogen into previously operational assets from the national transmission network over the last 12 months, scaling from a 2% blend of hydrogen with natural gas up to 100%.

A report based on the trial's findings showed there were "no issues" during the first phase of the project and no major obstacles to repurposing the network for hydrogen.

The project has now moved into its second phase, which will look into the challenges associated with the compression of hydrogen using existing assets – including demonstrating the potential to repurpose gas turbines for hydrogen use at compressor stations.

"Today’s report presents a promising picture on hydrogen blending, which can help the government meet its ambition of making the country a clean energy superpower as we progress to 100% green hydrogen, and all while using our existing infrastructure," said Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Susan Fenton)