In-depth Q&A: How will the UK’s hydrogen strategy help achieve net-zero?
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11% OffThe UKs new, long-awaited hydrogen strategy offers more information on how the government will support the advancement of a domestic low-carbon hydrogen sector, which today is practically non-existent.
In this article, Carbon Brief highlights bottom lines from the 121-page strategy and examines some of the main talking points around the UKs hydrogen strategies.
Specialists have actually cautioned that, with hydrogen in short supply in the coming years, the UK should prioritise it in “hard-to-electrify” sectors such as heavy market as capability expands.
Firm choices around the extent of hydrogen use in domestic heating and how to ensure it is produced in a low-carbon method have actually been delayed or put out to consultation for the time being.
Hydrogen will be “crucial” for achieving the UKs net-zero target and might fulfill up to a 3rd of the nations energy needs by 2050, according to the federal government.
Why does the UK need a hydrogen strategy?
Hydrogen is commonly seen as an essential component in plans to accomplish net-zero emissions and has actually been the subject of substantial hype, with numerous nations prioritising it in their post-Covid green recovery plans.
Hydrogen development for the next decade is expected to begin gradually, with a government aspiration to “see 1GW production capability by 2025” laid out in the strategy.
Critics likewise characterise hydrogen– many of which is currently made from natural gas– as a method for nonrenewable fuel source business to keep the status quo. (For all the benefits and downsides of hydrogen, see Carbon Briefs extensive explainer.).
Prior to the brand-new strategy, the prime ministers 10-point plan in November 2020 included plans to produce 5 gigawatts (GW) of yearly low-carbon hydrogen production capacity in the UK by 2030. Currently, this capacity stands at practically absolutely no.
Hydrogen need (pink area) and percentage of last energy usage in 2050 (%). The central variety is based on illustrative net-zero consistent circumstances in the sixth carbon budget plan effect evaluation and the full range is based on the entire range from hydrogen strategy analytical annex. Source: UK hydrogen strategy.
The technique does not increase this target, although it keeps in mind that the government is “mindful of a possible pipeline of over 15GW of tasks”.
The level of hydrogen usage in 2050 imagined by the method is somewhat higher than set out by the CCC in its newest recommendations, however covers a comparable range to other research studies.
The file consists of an exploration of how the UK will expand production and produce a market for hydrogen based upon domestic supply chains. This contrasts with Germany, which has been aiming to import hydrogen from abroad.
In its brand-new method, the UK federal government makes it clear that it sees low-carbon hydrogen as a crucial part of its net-zero plan, and states it desires the country to be a “global leader on hydrogen” by 2030.
As the chart listed below shows, if the federal governments strategies come to fulfillment it could then expand substantially– making up between 20-35% of the countrys overall energy supply by 2050. This will require a major expansion of facilities and skills in the UK.
Business such as Equinor are continuing with hydrogen advancements in the UK, however industry figures have warned that the UK threats being left behind. Other European nations have pledged billions to support low-carbon hydrogen growth.
The plan likewise called for a ₤ 240m net-zero hydrogen fund, the production of a hydrogen area heated with the gas by 2023, and increasing hydrogen mixing into gas networks to 20% to decrease reliance on gas.
In some applications, hydrogen will take on electrification and carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the very best ways of decarbonisation.
There were likewise over 100 references to hydrogen throughout the federal governments energy white paper, showing its prospective usage in many sectors. It also features in the commercial and transport decarbonisation strategies launched earlier this year.
A current All Party Parliamentary Group report on the function of hydrogen in powering industry consisted of a list of demands, mentioning that the federal government must “expand beyond its existing dedications of 5GW production in the upcoming hydrogen strategy”. This call has been echoed by some market groups.
Its flexibility means it can be utilized to tackle emissions in “hard-to-abate” sectors, such as heavy market, but it presently suffers from high costs and low effectiveness..
Nevertheless, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has kept in mind that, in order to hit the UKs carbon spending plans and attain net-zero emissions, choices in areas such as decarbonising heating and vehicles need to be made in the 2020s to enable time for infrastructure and vehicle stock changes.
Nevertheless, as with many of the governments net-zero strategy files up until now, the hydrogen plan has been delayed by months, leading to uncertainty around the future of this recently established industry.
Today we have actually published the UKs first Hydrogen Strategy! This is our strategy to: kick-start an entire market unleash the marketplace to cut costs increase domestic production unlock ₤ 4bn of private capital support 9k jobs #BuildBackGreenerhttps:// t.co/ aHZTr5yYeR– Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) August 17, 2021.
What variety of low-carbon hydrogen will be prioritised?
There was substantial pushback on this conclusion, with other scientists– consisting of CCC head of carbon spending plans, David Joffe– pointing out that it relied on very high methane leakage and a short-term step of worldwide warming capacity that emphasised the impact of methane emissions over CO2.
The technique mentions that the proportion of hydrogen provided by specific innovations “depends upon a series of assumptions, which can just be checked through the marketplaces reaction to the policies set out in this technique and real, at-scale deployment of hydrogen”..
Glossary.
The document does refrain from doing that and rather says it will provide “additional detail on our production strategy and twin track technique by early 2022″.
” If we wish to show, trial, start to commercialise and after that present the usage of hydrogen in industry/air travel/freight or anywhere, then we require enough hydrogen. We cant wait till the supply side deliberations are total.”.
The federal government has actually released an assessment on low-carbon hydrogen standards to accompany the technique, with a pledge to “finalise design aspects” of such requirements by early 2022.
This opposition came to a head when a recent study resulted in headlines mentioning that blue hydrogen is “even worse for the climate than coal”.
It has likewise launched an accompanying report, prepared by consultancies E4Tech and Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST), which takes a look at maximum appropriate levels of emissions for low-carbon hydrogen production and the method for computing these emissions.
Supporting a variety of tasks will offer the UK a “competitive benefit”, according to the government. Germany, by contrast, has stated it will focus exclusively on green hydrogen.
As it stands, blue hydrogen used steam methane reformation (SMR) is the most affordable low-carbon hydrogen offered, according to federal government analysis included in the method. (For more on the relative expenses of different hydrogen varieties, see this Carbon Brief explainer.).
The figure below from the consultation, based upon this analysis, reveals the impact of setting a threshold of 15-20gCO2e per megajoule (MJ) of hydrogen (red bar). In this example, those production methods above the red line, consisting of some for producing blue hydrogen, would be omitted.
The CCC has warned that policies should establish both blue and green options, “instead of simply whichever is least-cost”.
In May, S&P Global Platts reported that Rita Wadey– hydrogen economy deputy director at the Department for Business, Energy & & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)– said that, rather than “blue” or “green”, the UK would “consider carbon strength as the main factor in market development”.
The CCC has actually formerly specified that the government must “set out [a] vision for contributions of hydrogen production from various paths to 2035” in its hydrogen method.
Contrast of price estimates across various technology types at central fuel costs commissioning from 2020 to 2050, ₤/ MWh hydrogen. Source: Hydrogen Production Costs.
2021.
In the example picked for the assessment, natural gas routes where CO2 capture rates are listed below around 85% were left out..
For its part, the CCC has actually suggested a “blue hydrogen bridge” as a helpful tool for attaining net-zero. It says enabling some blue hydrogen will reduce emissions faster in the short-term by replacing more fossil fuels with hydrogen when there is inadequate green hydrogen readily available..
Jess Ralston, an analyst at thinktank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), stated in a declaration that the federal government ought to “be alive to the threat of gas market lobbying triggering it to dedicate too heavily to blue hydrogen and so keeping the country locked into fossil fuel-based technology”.
Short (ideally) reflecting on this blue hydrogen thing. And then cherry-picked a climate metric to make it look as bad as possible.
The CCC has actually previously specified “appropriate emissions decreases” for blue hydrogen compared to fossil gas as “at least 95% CO2 capture, 85% lifecycle greenhouse gas cost savings”.
The brand-new method mainly avoids using this colour-coding system, however it states the government has actually committed to a “twin track” technique that will include the production of both ranges.
The previous is basically zero-carbon, however the latter can still result in emissions due to methane leaks from natural gas infrastructure and the fact that carbon capture and storage (CCS) does not record 100% of emissions..
Close.
CO2 equivalent: Greenhouse gases can be expressed in regards to carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2eq. For an offered amount, various greenhouse gases trap various amounts of heat in the atmosphere, a quantity called … Read More.
Green hydrogen is used electrolysers powered by renewable electrical power, while blue hydrogen is used gas, with the resulting emissions caught and saved..
CO2 equivalent: Greenhouse gases can be revealed in regards to carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2eq. For a given amount, various greenhouse gases trap different quantities of heat in the atmosphere, an amount called the global warming capacity. Co2 equivalent is a way of comparing emissions from all greenhouse gases, not simply co2.
At the heart of numerous discussions about low-carbon hydrogen production is whether the hydrogen is “green” or “blue”.
Many researchers and ecological groups are sceptical about blue hydrogen provided its associated emissions.
The strategy keeps in mind that, in some cases, hydrogen made using electrolysers “might end up being cost-competitive with CCUS [carbon utilisation, storage and capture] -made it possible for methane reformation as early as 2025”..
Prof Robert Gross, director of the UK Energy Research Centre, informs Carbon Brief that, in his view, it is “most likely a bit unhelpful to get too preoccupied with the blue vs green hydrogen argument”. He states:.
The chart below, from a document describing hydrogen costs launched along with the main technique, shows the expected declining cost of electrolytic hydrogen gradually (green lines). (This includes hydrogen used grid electrical energy, which is not technically green unless the grid is 100% renewable.).
How will hydrogen be used in various sectors of the economy?
One notable exemption is hydrogen for fuel-cell traveler cars. This is consistent with the federal governments concentrate on electric vehicles, which many researchers see as more effective and economical technology.
This remains in line with the CCCs recommendation for its net-zero path, which sees low-carbon hydrogen scaling up to 90TWh by 2035– around a third of the size of the existing power sector.
” Stronger signals of intent might guide personal and public financial investments into those locations which include most value. The federal government has actually not plainly laid out how to choose which sectors will gain from the preliminary scheduled 5GW of production and has rather mostly left this to be determined through pilots and trials.”.
Illustrative hydrogen need in 2030 (blue) and 2035 (purple). Source: UK hydrogen method.
In the actual report, the federal government said that it anticipated “in general the demand for low carbon hydrogen for heating by 2030 to be fairly low (<< 1TWh)".. Michael Liebrich of Liebreich Associates has organised the usage of low-carbon hydrogen into a "ladder", with existing applications-- such as the chemicals industry-- offered leading priority. The committee emphasises that hydrogen usage need to be restricted to "areas less matched to electrification, especially shipping and parts of market" and supplying versatility to the power system. Nevertheless, the method also includes the choice of using hydrogen in sectors that might be much better served by electrification, especially domestic heating, where hydrogen needs to complete with electrical heatpump.. Call for proof on "hydrogen-ready" industrial devices by the end of 2021. Require proof on phaseout of carbon-intensive hydrogen production in market "within a year". Stage 2 of the ₤ 315m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.A ₤ 55 million Industrial Fuel Switching 2 competition in 2021. The new method is clear that market will be a "lead choice" for early hydrogen usage, beginning in the mid-2020s. It also says that it will "most likely" be essential for decarbonising transport-- especially heavy products cars, shipping and aviation-- and stabilizing a more renewables-heavy grid. Some applications, such as industrial heating, might be virtually difficult without a supply of hydrogen, and numerous professionals have actually argued that these hold true where it should be prioritised, a minimum of in the short term. Although low-carbon hydrogen can be utilized to do whatever from sustaining cars to heating homes, the reality is that it will likely be restricted by the volume that can probably be produced. The federal government is more optimistic about using hydrogen in domestic heating. Its analysis suggests that approximately 45TWh of low-carbon hydrogen could be put to this use by 2035, as the chart below shows. Responding to the report, energy researchers pointed to the "small" volumes of hydrogen expected to be produced in the future and advised the federal government to choose its priorities thoroughly. Federal government analysis, included in the strategy, recommends potential hydrogen need of approximately 38 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, not including mixing it into the gas grid, and increasing to 55-165TWh by 2035. Coverage of the report and federal government advertising products emphasised that the governments strategy would supply enough hydrogen to replace natural gas in around 3m houses each year. The CCC does not see comprehensive usage of hydrogen beyond these restricted cases by 2035, as the chart below shows. My lovelies, I simply dropped Version 4 of the Clean Hydrogen Ladder! For anyone brand-new to all this, the ladder is my attempt to put use cases for tidy hydrogen into some sort of merit order, because not all use cases are equally likely to prosper. 1/10 pic.twitter.com/I8HpqQjlKS— Michael Liebreich (@MLiebreich) August 15, 2021. " As the technique confesses, there will not be considerable quantities of low-carbon hydrogen for some time. Dedications made in the brand-new strategy include:. It consists of plans for hydrogen heating trials and consultation on "hydrogen-ready" boilers by 2026. The starting point for the variety-- 0TWh-- recommends there is significant uncertainty compared to other sectors, and even the highest estimate is only around a 10th of the energy currently used to heat UK homes. Juliet Phillips, senior policy advisor and UK hydrogen expert at thinktank E3G tells Carbon Brief the technique had actually "exposed" the door for uses that "dont add the most worth for the environment or economy". She adds:. 4) On page 62 the hydrogen technique states that the government expects << 1 TWh of energy for heating to come from hydrogen by 2030. Existing energy need in the UK for area and hot water heating is 435 TWh according to Ofgem. So 1 TWh is 0.2%. Thats about 67,000 homes.-- Jan Rosenow (@janrosenow) August 17, 2021. " I would recommend to go with these no-regret choices for hydrogen need [in industry] that are currently readily available ... those ought to be the focus.". Much will depend upon the progress of feasibility studies in the coming years, and the governments upcoming heat and structures strategy may likewise offer some clarity. Lastly, in order to develop a market for hydrogen, the government says it will examine blending as much as 20% hydrogen into the gas network by late 2022 and objective to make a last decision in late 2023. Gniewomir Flis, a project supervisor at Agora Energiewende, informs Carbon Brief that-- in his view-- mixing "has no future". He discusses:. How does the federal government plan to support the hydrogen market? The brand-new hydrogen strategy confirms that this service model will be settled in 2022, making it possible for the very first agreements to be allocated from the start of 2023. This is pending another consultation, which has been introduced along with the main strategy. Much of the resulting press coverage of the hydrogen strategy, from the Financial Times to the Daily Telegraph, focused on the prepare for a hydrogen industry "subsidised by taxpayers", as the cash would originate from either higher bills or public funds. The 10-point plan consisted of a promise to establish a hydrogen service design to motivate personal investment and a revenue mechanism to offer funding for business model. As it stands, low-carbon hydrogen stays costly compared to fossil fuel options, there is unpredictability about the level of future demand and high risks for business aiming to enter the sector. Sharelines from this story. " This will offer us a better understanding of the mix of production innovations, how we will fulfill a ramp-up in demand, and the role that brand-new innovations might play in accomplishing the levels of production necessary to meet our future [sixth carbon spending plan] and net-zero commitments.". According to the federal governments press release, its preferred design is "developed on a comparable property to the offshore wind contracts for difference (CfDs)", which substantially cut expenses of brand-new overseas wind farms. These agreements are created to get rid of the expense gap between the favored innovation and fossil fuels. Hydrogen manufacturers would be offered a payment that bridges this gap. Anne-Marie Trevelyan-- minister for energy, tidy development and climate modification at BEIS-- informed the Times that the cost to provide long-lasting security to the industry would be "really little" for individual households. Now that its strategy has been released, the government says it will collect evidence from consultations on its low-carbon hydrogen requirement, net-zero hydrogen fund and the service model:. Hydrogen demand (pink area) and proportion of last energy consumption in 2050 (%). My lovelies, I just dropped Version 4 of the Clean Hydrogen Ladder! Call for proof on phaseout of carbon-intensive hydrogen production in market "within a year"." As the technique admits, there will not be substantial quantities of low-carbon hydrogen for some time. 4) On page 62 the hydrogen method specifies that the government anticipates << 1 TWh of energy for heating to come from hydrogen by 2030.