CCC urges Government to develop hydrogen plan

In their Report published 22 November 2018 the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has stated that hydrogen is a "credible" alternative energy source that could be used to cut emissions across the UK economy, but would require strategic government planning.

It finds that hydrogen:

• is a credible option to help decarbonise the UK energy system but its role depends on early Government commitment and improved support to develop the UK's industrial capability;
• can make an important contribution to long-term decarbonisation if combined with greater energy efficiency, cheap low-carbon power generation, electrified transport and new 'hybrid' heat pump systems, which have been successfully trialled in the UK;
• could replace natural gas in parts of the energy system, where electrification is not feasible or is prohibitively expensive.

The CCC warn that hydrogen is "not a silver bullet" and that its role will depend on early Government commitment and improved support to develop the UK's industrial capability.

The reports key recommendations are:

• the Government must commit to developing a low-carbon heat strategy within the next three years;
• significant volumes of low-carbon hydrogen should be produced in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) "cluster" by 2030 to help the industry grow;
• the Government must support the early demonstration of the everyday uses of hydrogen in order to establish the practicality of switching from natural gas to hydrogen;
• the Government must raise awareness amongst the general public of reasons to move away from natural gas heating to low-carbon alternatives;
• a strategy should be developed for low-carbon heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) which encourages a move away from fossil fuels and biofuels to zero-emission solutions by 2050.

CCC Chairman Lord Deben stated: "the Government must now decide whether it wishes to develop a UK hydrogen option, taking decisions now that will see the first deployment in the 2020s".

"This must be in parallel with efforts to improve energy efficiency, build further low-cost renewables and get carbon capture and storage underway - the time for the Government to move from theory to practice has arrived".

The CCC highlighted how natural gas is likely to be the main energy source for hydrogen production, which is not a a net zero carbon process, even with CCS. They noted that producing it from renewable energy in bulk is expensive, and warned that switching the gas grid to 100% hydrogen is impractical for zero carbon heat.

They commented: "there remain significant obstacles to the decarbonisation of industry, transportation and heat, even as the UK has focused on cleaning up electricity generation over the last decade".

"The report offers a new impetus for early Government action - hydrogen should be viewed as a credible option in the next stage of the UK's energy transition."

For more information on this subject, see:

• Hydrogen in a low-carbon economy.