The Hydrogen Taskforce, a coalition of the hydrogen industry’s largest organisations,have today launched an information hub to support local authorities and policy makers in the development and deployment of low-carbon hydrogen. This follows the recent publication of the UK Hydrogen Strategy.
The new Building a Hydrogen Society information hub is a source of information and assistance on the potential of hydrogen and its applications for local authorities as they draw up or put in place their Climate Action Plans and strategies. These resources will promote the use of hydrogen, alongside electrification and other innovative solutions to build a low-carbon economy, at a local and UK-wide level.
Commenting on the launch of the Hydrogen Society hub, Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Hydrogen has the power to transform the UK’s economy and help us achieve our climate change targets.
Our new Hydrogen Strategy will unleash the private capital necessary to ramp up domestic production and cut costs, while delivering thousands of green jobs in the process.
The work of the Hydrogen Taskforce will support local authorities and policymakers in developing a thriving hydrogen sector in the UK, providing the right resources for a low-carbon economy to be built at both a local and UK-wide level.”
Dr Angela Needle, Director of Strategy at Cadent Gas, said, on behalf of the Hydrogen Taskforce: “Hydrogen has a crucial role to play in decarbonising industry, power generation, transport and home heating, while boosting job creation, sustaining local industries and supporting UK innovation in energy.
We are delighted to launch this campaign and our information and resource portal that will support local authorities and policymakers that are looking at a variety of options, such as hydrogen, to decarbonise communities across the UK.
Along with electrification, hydrogen will back the UK’s drive to Net Zero and its future prosperity and the Taskforce stands ready to support local authorities and the Government to make these goals a reality.”
It is estimated that there will be 223 TWh of low carbon hydrogen demand in 2050, which equals the current natural gas consumption of almost 19 million homes in the UK.[i] By 2030, the rapid deployment of hydrogen could reduce emissions by up to 30 MtCO2 per year. This is the equivalent to taking almost 17 million cars off the road.[ii]
The switch to hydrogen could also sustain tens of thousands of jobs in the UK’s oil and gas and manufacturing sectors and the Taskforce estimates that this could unlock £18bn in gross value added (GVA) and support 75,000 additional jobs in the UK by 2035.[iii]
Further resources will be added to the information hub over the coming weeks and months including industry and local authority case studies and best practice information needed for planning and policymaking at both a community and UK-wide level.
The Hydrogen Taskforce’smembership will also make their experts available to support local authorities, parliamentarians, and government in understanding and developing hydrogen solutions.
For further information about the Hydrogen Society hub or the Hydrogen Taskforce, please contact:
Michaila Hancock
M: +44 (0) 7918 922 202
About the Hydrogen Taskforce
The Taskforce is a coalition of the hydrogen industry’s largest organisations that operate and innovate in across this sector, including Arup, Arval UK, Baker McKenzie, Baxi, BOC, BNP Paribas, BP, Cadent, Centrica, DNV, EDF, Equinor, ITM Power, Johnson Matthey, Northern Gas Networks, Ørsted, SGN, Shell, SSE Thermal, and Uniper.
The Taskforce’s aim is to secure the role of hydrogen in the UK’s future energy mix.
For more information, visit https://www.hydrogentaskforce.co.uk
[i] In The Balanced Pathway in the CCC’s Sixth Carbon Budget there is 223 TWh of low carbon hydrogen demand in 2050, this is equivalent to the natural gas consumption of almost 19 million homes – assuming Ofgem typical domestic consumption value of 12,000 kWh per year.
https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/The-Sixth-Carbon-Budget-Dataset.xlsx
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2020/01/tdcvs_2020_decision_letter_0.pdf
[ii] This figure has been calculated by aggregating all the projected hydrogen production of the projects in the UK. Blue hydrogen is assumed to have a load factor of 95% and green hydrogen is assumed to have a load factor of 80% and an efficiency of 73%. It should be noted that this should be seen as the maximum potential outcome as many of these projects are unlikely to receive the financial support required to be operational in 2030. If this were to be achieved in 2030 there would be over 20GW of installed low carbon hydrogen capacity, much more than the government’s target of 5GW.
The emissions associated with this hydrogen are then compared to the end uses that are displaced based on predictions of end use demand. The assumed fuels displaced are natural gas in industry, heating and power, grey hydrogen in industry and diesel use in transport.
| Source | Fuel | Emission factor | Unit |
| BEIS | Natural gas | 0.1839 | kgCO2/kWh |
| E4Tech | Grey H2 emissions | 0.2735 | kgCO2/kWh |
| BEIS | Diesel | 0.2406 | kgCO2/kWh |
| Calculation based on 95% capture rate[1] | Blue H2 with CCS | 0.0137 | kgCO2/kWh |
| Assumption | Green H2 | 0.0000 | kgCO2/kWh |
[1]https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy.pdf
[iii] The Hydrogen Taskforce Economic Impact Assessment (August 2020) –https://www.hydrogentaskforce.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/6-EIA-report.pdf
