A report from the cross-party Science and Technology Committee and into the UK’s hydrogen strategy, gives Rishi Sunak the opportunity to position the UK as a leader in Green Hydrogen transportation – within the decade. While pure Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) are the preferred choice for most personal transport systems, there is a lot of interest in how hydrogen fuel cells might be used for larger transport vehicles – on the road, as well as at sea and in the air. WhichEV breaks down the news.
Government is set to lay out how it intends to support the development in the UK of Green Hydrogen projects at scale during this decade, to ensure that green hydrogen can be produced in the UK and so it can become cost competitive with Blue Hydrogen. This should include additional efforts to reduce the cost of electrolysers.
The UK Government is looking to satisfy half the country’s need for H2 from Green Hydrogen technologies by 2030 – reinforcing the conclusions of the Climate Change Committee’s 2022 Progress Report to Parliament.
The Government will be setting additional targets, for example to phase out high-polluting Grey Hydrogen as soon as possible. Clear targets in this area will help industry gear up for the change. So what are the different versions of hydrogen and why is Green Hydrogen preferable to everything else?
Grey/Black/Brown Hydrogen
Environmentally damaging as both CO2 and carbon monoxide are generated during the process and not recaptured or stored in any safe way. These shades of hydrogen are a bit like burning petrol in a car to make electricity for a motor you fitted in order to bypass clean-air legislation
Blue Hydrogen
Starts with fossil fuels and as much as 20% of the carbon generated will be released into the atmosphere. Blue hydrogen techniques attempt to capture/store the dangerous by-products. Imagine filling large caverns under the ground with highly toxic chemical agents and calling yourself ‘environmentally friendly' – with no idea what the long term impact of that toxic storage process will be
Green Hydrogen
Uses environmentally friendly techniques to separate hydrogen from oxygen found in renewable products like water. The ability to generate usable amounts of Green Hydrogen will depend on the number and efficiency of electrolysers available in the market
Key to this move will be the Department for Transport’s (DfT) commitment to Zero Emission Buses (ZEB). DfT research has shown that bus companies have a preference for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), but they want the flexibility to be able to use hydrogen fuel cell buses in certain areas. In that case, the fuel needs to be Green Hydrogen.
As a member of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UK is helping prepare draft guidelines on how Green Hydrogen can play a role in reducing the enormous carbon emissions created by shipping across the globe. These guidelines are expected to be made public in July.
One goal of the UK in these discussions, will be a commitment to moving at least 5% of the world’s shipping to fuels like Green Hydrogen in the short-term. This falls under the acronym ZESM (Zero Emission Shipping Mission). VW has already invested heavily into Liquid Natural Gas, for part of its shipping operations, which some consider to be a mistake.
The final part of the transportation paradigm is flight. The Jet Zero Strategy (JZS) relies on the UK’s world-leasing expertise in aviation technology. A ‘basket of measures’ is being considered in order to decarbonise the international aviation sector. Among these are technology improvements that include pure electric and Green Hydrogen based propulsion. Feasibility studies are on-going into what the long-term may hold for air travel. Key to any change in this sector, would be timely agreement on what the certification process would be for new propulsion technologies.
Underpinning much of the Government’s forceful move to a greener economy overall, is its ability to force standards on companies that want to supply the UK Government with products and services. Mandatory product standards and insistence on public policy statements will mean that many companies then push rapidly to a greener way of working – if they want to keep their contracts.
The Government is developing a Low Carbon Hydrogen Certification Scheme and this will be published in 2025. Clever 10-point plans will, no doubt, follow shortly.
The timer for Green Hydrogen has been set and we can expect to see announcements, in the near future, about hundreds of millions of pounds in grant money to support a rapid move to Net Zero. Over £240 million has already been allocated to the creation of low carbon hydrogen production plants.