Introduction: The UK government has pledged to reduce emissions by 80% (from 1990 levels) no later than 2050. As a result of this, drastic changes will be required across all sectors. This is currently most apparent in the electricity sector, as many of the early solutions to decarbonisation have been based on a transition to electricity consumption in applications which traditionally relied on the direct combustion of fossil fuels (e.g. electric vehicles for transport).

Decarbonisation of heat and transport looks to move a large amount of energy between existing sources and vectors to other ones (including new sources). The three Problems that this project looks to address include:

1. The capacity of gas and electricity distribution networks is not fully utilised or optimised.

2. There is a lack of available alternative powertrain technologies in low emission vehicles across all transport segments leading to dependence on electric vehicles (EVs) which could result in costly reinforcement of electricity infrastructure.

3. There is not an established diverse range of technologies in the competitive market that can provide flexibility to both gas and electricity distribution networks.

Objectives: This study aims to develop a viable design (including suitable technologies and business models) for a hub that could:

-   optimise the utilisation of gas and electricity network capacities to avoid costly infrastructure upgrade

-   be a cost effective option to facilitate the decarbonisation of transport and gas networks

-   understand the opportunity to provide flexibility solutions to constrained networks