Our vision for fossil-free fuel in the US

Today we have announced our vision for fossil-free fuel across Massachusetts and New York, fully eliminating fossil fuels from both our gas and electric systems, and replacing the geological gas with renewable natural gas and hydrogen by 2050 or sooner.

This is an exciting moment for National Grid and another big leap forward in our leadership of the energy transition, one that is clean, fair and affordable for all. 

To achieve our ambition, we are proposing a hybrid approach, with a combination of electric heat pumps, fossil-free gas and hybrid gas-electric systems. 

We will focus on four pillars to help all homes and businesses we serve meet their heating needs without any use of fossil fuels:

• Leading with robust energy efficiency in buildings.
• Creating a 100% fossil-free gas network to deliver renewable natural gas and green hydrogen to our customers, and leverages the existing networks which have been providing safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers for decades, and will continue to do so for decades to come.
• Enabling hybrid heating systems that pair electric heat pumps with existing gas heating appliances, again creating affordable choice for our customers.
• Targeting electrification on our gas network for a number of customers where it is more cost effective for them.

While the electrification of heat has an important role to play, our approach has a number of advantages over full electrification and is the most likely route by which we will achieve net zero, and the communities in which we operate will meet their climate goals. 

It’s great for customers, because it gives them more choice on how to heat their homes and businesses, and it’s significantly more affordable, and it is a reliable pathway. We estimate that our vision will save our US communities $90 - $115 billion by 2050 compared to full electrification. At this time of rising energy prices and cost of living increases, it’s clear how important this will be.

To make our vision happen, we will spend the next three years developing pilots to demonstrate the viability and scalability of fossil-free networks. 

Then, from 2025, we will set the foundations, securing the regulatory approvals we need for a net zero gas network and running community pilots in hydrogen blending and renewable natural gas interconnection. 

From 2030, we will invest in the additional infrastructure needed to deliver fossil-free gas and by 2040 we will achieve 75% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across our US service territories. These steps will allow us to deliver 100% fossil-free fuel by 2050.  

Throughout, we will engage our customers with a range of measures like energy efficiency programmes, participation in clean fuel offerings and conversions from oil to electric heat pumps, ensuring everyone can benefit from clean, affordable energy.

Read more about our vision for fossil-free fuel.