EurOil: UK unveils hydrogen strategy

The UK government unveiled its hydrogen strategy this week following recent delays. The strategy commits the country to developing 5 GW of low-carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030. However, the government said further details on market mechanisms and carbon intensity definitions to support hydrogen development would not be released until 2022.
The strategy includes development of both blue hydrogen, which involves a carbon capture component, and green hydrogen, which is produced from renewable sources of energy.
The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the country’s approach to offshore wind development, which combined government action with private sector backing, would be used to inform the hydrogen strategy. The offshore wind strategy relied heavily on the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.
“The government has today launched a public consultation on a preferred hydrogen business model which, built on a similar premise to the offshore wind CfDs, is designed to overcome the cost gap between low carbon hydrogen and fossil fuels, helping the costs of low-carbon alternatives to fall quickly, as hydrogen comes to play an increasing role in our lives,” the BEIS stated.
Other measures included in the strategy include undertaking a review to support the development of the necessary network and storage infrastructure to underpin a hydrogen sector, and working with industry to assess the safety, technical feasibility, and cost effectiveness of mixing 20% hydrogen into the existing gas supply.
The strategy comes as the UK works towards its goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.