The Government has launched its Hydrogen Strategy today backed by analysis that suggests 20-35 per cent of the UK’s energy consumption could be hydrogen-based by the middle of the century.
Total Energy Solutions Managing Director Ali Carnegie said: “There has been speculation in the sector about the Hydrogen Strategy so I am interested to see some of the details and what that might mean for our customers in the future.
“With greater focus on renewable sources of energy from many of our customers there is bound to be some interest in the continued development of hydrogen as a potential source.
“We will be studying the strategy and what the implications of it might be in our sector. We will of course keep all of our customers updated with any opportunities that arise for them from this.”
Launching the strategy today the Government’s Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Today marks the start of the UK’s hydrogen revolution. This home-grown clean energy source has the potential to transform the way we power our lives and will be essential to tackling climate change and reaching Net Zero.
“With the potential to provide a third of the UK’s energy in the future, our strategy positions the UK as first in the global race to ramp up hydrogen technology and seize the thousands of jobs and private investment that come with it.”
The strategy includes a commitment to develop a twin-track approach to support multiple technologies, including green and blue hydrogen production.
Green hydrogen is made using water and renewable energy. Blue hydrogen comes from natural gas, with carbon capture and storage (CCS) used to deal with emissions. There is a lot of debate in the industry over which of these should be prioritised, with suppliers preferring to invest in blue hydrogen to make use of their existing infrastructure and systems.
The Hydrogen Strategy is one of a series of policies being published ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit, due to take place in Glasgow in November.