Government publishes Hydrogen Strategy and related documents
Tue 17 August 2021
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The Government has announced a new hydrogen strategy which outlines how the UK can quickly scale up production to lay the foundations for a low carbon hydrogen economy by 2030.
The UK's first Hydrogen Strategy also describes how Government plans to support innovation and stimulate investment in the 2020s to scale up low carbon hydrogen
The Government says that the Strategy sets out a "twin-track approach to supporting both electrolytic ‘green' and carbon capture (CCUS)-enabled ‘blue' hydrogen production, alongside other potential production routes, which will enable the rapid growth of the sector while bringing down costs". The stratelgy includes a roadmap for the development of the wider hydrogen economy over the 2020s, aiming to deliver the Government's 2030 5GW ambition.
Published alongside the Hydrogen Strategy are a wider package of policy documents :
Shortly after the publication of the Hydrogen Strategy, Government announced the winners of a £2.5m R&D competition which will establish hydrogen transport pilots in the Tees Valley area. These will help improve understanding about the role hydrogen has in meeting the 2050 net zero ambitions, informing future investment decisions and export opportunities.
The competition will support a range of initiatives, including a collaboration with Stagecoach, in which Ricardo PLC will retrofit a double-decker diesel bus with a hybrid fuel cell system. The bus will be driven on local routes and learnings from this project will support fuel cell retrofit technologies in public transport across the UK.
Another project sees Toyota delivering a number of hydrogen vehicles, including a forklift truck for warehouse operations, a passenger bus and 10 fuel cell passenger cars. These will be deployed across the town’s rapid response services, such as emergency response units for the Cleveland Police and NHS patient support.
HV Systems plans to demonstrate the use of hydrogen in delivery vans in the Tees Valley area. The vans will be operated in collaboration with a leading supermarket chain, running between 19 superstores and their main distribution centre.
The project aims to show how delivery vans fitted with fuel cells can have increased range, faster refuelling times than battery-electric versions and speed parity with conventional diesel vehicles.
In collaboration with Sainsbury’s, Element Energy will also be trialling a hydrogen-powered heavy goods vehicle (HGV) in the Tees Valley area. The vehicle will be operated from a local distribution centre and will be carrying out local goods deliveries.
Note: Zemo Partnership recently published a comprehensive study showing the most promising Well-to-Tank routes for hydrogen to help deliver net zero transport.
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