CPC2020: Unleashing the hydrogen economy - a podcast by Conservative Environment Network

Panel: Benet Northcote (CEN Board, Chair), Ben Houchen (Tees Valley Mayor), Jacob Young MP (Chair, Hydrogen APPG), Enass Abo-Hamed (Co-founder & CEO, H2GO power ltd) & Dr Angela Needle (Director of Strategy, Cadent Gas)

Low carbon hydrogen will be critical to meeting the UK’s net zero target, as an alternative to fossil fuels for heating homes, industry and transport and in supporting the ‘levelling up’ of communities affected by the loss of jobs in fossil fuel industries. Currently, the dominant source of hydrogen is natural gas. With new green methods of producing hydrogen being developed using renewable electricity, unleashing a green hydrogen economy is important for this Government’s ambitious plans for clean growth, but how should ministers look to kickstart the industry? What storage and distribution infrastructure is needed and how can private-sector investment be stimulated?

Combined with renewable electricity, hydrogen can be produced, stored and used without causing harmful greenhouse gases. Hydrogen is already deployed in innovative projects across the country – such as blending it into the gas network at Keele University in Staffordshire and hydrogen transport innovation being progressed in Tees Valley. Hydrogen will be critical for decarbonising heavy industry such as steel. In homes and commercial buildings, hydrogen could be used for heating, while there is also potential to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles, shipping and aviation. The panel will discuss how much green hydrogen is likely to be available, and in which sectors it should be deployed.

Analysis from the IEA found that the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable electricity could fall 30% by 2030 as a result of declining costs of renewables and the scaling up of hydrogen production. To seize this opportunity, the Government has set up the Hydrogen Advisory Council and published a report on possible business models for low carbon hydrogen production. This event is a prime opportunity to discuss the benefits of low carbon hydrogen and how a new cross-government hydrogen strategy could unlock its potential.

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