Alt Pipe

Britain’s gas pipes are being turned into giant batteries. National Gas, the operator of the UK’s high-pressure gas transmission network, is running a discovery project to identify sections of decommissioned steel pipework that can no longer carry gas and test whether they can store or transmit electricity, heat, hydrogen, water, or data instead. This matters because decommissioning buried pipelines is expensive and disruptive—digging them up and removing them generates waste and carbon emissions. At the same time, the UK’s energy system needs vastly more storage capacity for renewable electricity and low-carbon heat. Rather than scrap redundant pipes, this project asks whether they can be repurposed as underground energy or data infrastructure, avoiding the cost and environmental impact of new construction. If successful, the approach could turn a liability into an asset. Sections of the National Transmission System that are too small, corroded, or awkwardly located for refurbishment might instead serve as conduits for electrical cables, thermal storage, or hydrogen transport. The project is exploratory—it will map which pipe segments are available and assess the technical feasibility of each alternative use. It does not yet build or test anything. But if the feasibility study shows promise, it could unlock a low-cost, low-carbon way to expand the UK’s energy storage and transmission capacity without digging new trenches.