UK hydrogen projects well-positioned to power industry: panel

Hydrogen projects around the UK are well-positioned to power industry and meet net-zero targets, although government support and strategy are needed for scaling up and commercialization throughout the country, panelists said in a webinar March 23.

Government leaders need to make their interventions "economic and timely," as a diverse range of hydrogen connections are materializing across the country from northeast Scotland to South Wales, said Andrew Marsh, business partner at National Grid, at the All-Party Parliamentary Group, or APPG, webinar.

"We are brilliantly placed to deliver," Marsh said. "The name of the game is clarity and collaboration -- there needs to be support for power generators to switch fuels."

The UK government has targeted 5 GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030 as part of its 10-point climate action plan announced in November 2020. The government has a range of challenges as it prepares to launch the national hydrogen strategy, which is expected in the second quarter 2021, Marsh said.

"Getting the funding model right would send the right signal to our stakeholders, investors, and consumers," he added.

Hydrogen production powered by nuclear reactors could start by 2023 at EDF's Sizewell plant, said Rebecca Rosling, head of smart customers, research and development at EDF.

Negotiations with the UK government on funding arrangements are underway, Rosling said.

"By the time Sizewell is generating, we can significantly reduce the cost of the electrolysis process," she said.

EDF also is looking at a number of early-stage hydrogen projects using renewables, including offshore wind, Rosling said. EDF would like to see green hydrogen produced from zero-carbon sources given at least equal status with blue hydrogen produced from fossil sources with carbon capture added, she said.

The APPG, which is an informal crossparty group with no official status within the Parliament, also announced it would seek further evidence on what would be needed to unlock hydrogen's potential within the larger economy. It will review case studies on what could be hydrogen's role in powering industry and the policies needed to accelerate hydrogen's potential, it said.