0
0
The U.K. government published a replacement strategy on hydrogen use Tuesday, saying the country’s hydrogen economy could potentially support up to 100,000 jobs and be worth the maximum amount as £13 billion ($17.88 billion) by the center of the century.
In a foreword to the strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, the U.K.’s business and energy secretary, said the govt , working with industry, wanted 5 gigawatts of “low carbon hydrogen production capacity” by the year 2030, which might be used across the economy.
“This could produce hydrogen like the quantity of gas consumed by over 3 million households within the UK annually ,” Kwarteng said.
Explaining how it might be deployed within the years ahead, he added: “This new, low carbon hydrogen could help provide cleaner energy to power our economy and our everyday lives — from cookers to distilleries, film shoots to power plants, waste trucks to production , and 40 tonne diggers to the warmth in our homes.”
While there’s excitement about potential use cases for low carbon hydrogen, the government’s strategy also tempered expectations when it came to using it for heating, stating it expected demand “to be relatively low” by 2030 The 5 GW target was previously included within the government’s 10-point plan for a so-called “green technological revolution ,” published last November.
In a statement accompanying the strategy’s publication, authorities said that by 2050, 20% to 35% of the U.K.‘s energy consumption might be hydrogen-based. within the medium term, the U.K.’s hydrogen economy could unlock £4 billion of investment and support quite 9,000 jobs by the year 2030, the govt said Alongside its Hydrogen Strategy, the U.K. government also published consultations associated with low carbon hydrogen standards, a net zero hydrogen fund and a hydrogen business model.
One of the strategy’s key strands is to support what the govt described as a “twin track” approach to different technologies, including “green” and “blue” hydrogen, with more details on production set to be released in 2022 Described by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier,” hydrogen are often produced during a number of the way .
One method includes using electrolysis, with an electrical current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity utilized in this process comes from a renewable source some call it green hydrogen, which is currently expensive to supply Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced using gas — a fuel — with the CO2 emissions generated during the method captured and stored. Recently, blue hydrogen has generated a big amount of debate.
Just last week a study by researchers at Cornell and Stanford Universities, published within the peer-reviewed journal Energy Science & Engineering, said greenhouse emission emissions from blue hydrogen production were “quite high, particularly thanks to the discharge of fugitive methane.”
Basing their analysis on a group of default assumptions, the study’s authors went on to say that blue hydrogen’s greenhouse emission footprint was “more than 20% greater than burning gas or coal for warmth and a few 60% greater than burning diesel fuel for warmth Back within the U.K., responses to the government’s long-awaited strategy for hydrogen were mixed.
Frank Gordon, director of policy at the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, said it provided “welcome clarity. The REA urged the govt to supply certainty for investors, deliver a technology neutral approach and highlight the range of low carbon pathways,” Gordon added.
“The Hydrogen Strategy starts to answer those calls and offers a positive vision for the role of hydrogen in meeting the UK’s net zero ambitions Elsewhere, Dan McGrail, CEO of trade association RenewableUK, involved more when it came to green hydrogen. “While we welcome positive steps just like the new Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, overall the strategy doesn’t focus nearly enough on developing the UK’s world-leading green hydrogen industry,” he said.
“In the year when the united kingdom is hosting the most important global climate change summit for years, we fear that international investors in renewable hydrogen may compare this strategy to those of other countries and vote with their feet. the govt must use the present consultation period to amend its plans and began a transparent ambition for green hydrogen.”
Average Rating