Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Hydrogen Advisory
Council will develop a fully-funded hydrogen strategy for the
United Kingdom.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy () (Con)
My Lords, the Hydrogen Advisory Council was established in July
to formalise Government/industry engagement. The council and its
working groups will inform the development of a UK hydrogen
strategy, which will be published before COP 26 early next year.
Similarly, those involved in the council and the working groups
will of course play a role in its implementation. The strategy
will include discussion around the costs associated with the
expansion of the UK hydrogen economy and how these might be met.
(LD)
I thank the Minister for his reply. Will he join me in
celebrating Britain’s leading role in hydrogen technology? We are
making world-first hydrogen buses in Ballymena, Falkirk and
Yorkshire, and world-first hydrogen boilers in Worcester and
Preston, and building the world’s first green hydrogen
gigafactory in Sheffield. Does he agree that, if we are to
maintain our competitive edge, our hydrogen strategy must do
three things: grow supply and demand in parallel, establish
regional hydrogen hubs, and start with technologies that are
available now and easy to scale up, such as hydrogen buses and
trains?
(Con)
The noble Lord is entirely correct. He makes a very good point
that this is an important new developing technology that we will
want to support as much as we can. The UK is well placed to play
a leading role in all the areas that he mentions, and when the
hydrogen strategy is published it will take account of all those
factors.
(Lab)
I understand that most of the hydrogen that is consumed in the UK
is generated by the steam reformation of methane, whereby one
molecule of methane and one of water produce three molecules of
hydrogen and one of carbon monoxide, which rapidly becomes carbon
dioxide. The process is therefore by no means carbon neutral.
Moreover, it requires a substantial input of energy, which at
present is liable to come from fossil fuels. Are the Government
prepared to insist that in future the supply of hydrogen will be
produced by electrolysis? Will they also take steps to ensure
that there will be a regular supply of carbon-neutral electricity
sufficient for the purpose? Can we be assured that the hydrogen
strategy has a purpose beyond that of supplementing our dwindling
supplies of natural gas?
(Con)
The noble Viscount is of course referring to the different kinds
of hydrogen, referred to as green and blue hydrogen. We take the
view that both will be needed to meet the UK’s potential hydrogen
demand by 2050. Blue hydrogen has a role to play in producing
cost-effective low-carbon hydrogen at scale, but of course we
will need to use carbon-capture technology along with it.
(LD)
My Lords, as taxpayers we spend a lot of money paying renewable
energy sources—solar, and particularly wind—not to produce when
we do not need that energy. That is something we renewable energy
advocates all feel slightly embarrassed about. Is this not a way
to ensure that this never happens in future and that the surplus
electricity generated at those peak times is used for the
electrolysis method? That would ensure we were a hydrogen
economy. Also, when are we going to get the energy White Paper?
(Con)
I can certainly agree with the noble Lord’s first point; he is
entirely correct. The energy White Paper should be out towards
the end of this year.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, I declare my energy interests as in the register. Does
my noble friend agree that hydrogen as an energy vector is an old
story with an entirely new life nowadays? Has he noticed that
Japan has declared its aim to be the world’s first hydrogen-based
economy, safely using both green hydrogen from surplus renewable
electricity, of which there is plenty, and blue hydrogen or
hythane, already referred to, when mixed with natural gas? Could
the very welcome new Hydrogen Advisory Council be encouraged to
follow Japan closely or even rival that ambition?
(Con)
The noble Lord is entirely correct that a number of other
countries are developing hydrogen strategies. However, the
Government believe that the UK is currently well placed and in
the leading pack internationally. We are keeping pace with
international developments and leading in a number of
international fora on this subject.
(CB)
[V]
My Lords, when around 80% of UK households have gas heating
systems and these systems account for about 30% of the UK’s CO2
emissions, will the Government’s hydrogen strategy include a
commitment to introduce hydrogen-ready boilers for 2025? This
would not only support our net-zero targets but sustain and
create thousands of jobs, since we are of course home to
companies such as Worcester Bosch and Baxi, which are making
world-first hydrogen boilers.
(Con)
The noble Baroness is entirely correct. We are planning to
publish a heat and buildings strategy in due course, setting out
the immediate actions we will take. We are already working with
Baxi and Worcester Bosch, the companies she mentioned, on
hydrogen-ready boilers. These have been developed under a £25
million pot of funding, which BEIS provided.
(Lab)
Hydrogen in transport is key to unlocking its wider use across
the economy; there are some relatively quick and easy wins. The
renewable transport fuel obligation already exists. Have the
Government progressed plans to extend the RTFO guidance to
include both green and blue hydrogen as vehicle fuels, with
legislative changes to encourage the supply chain necessary to
deploy hydrogen bus and train fleets?
(Con)
We are closely examining all these matters. The noble Lord makes
a good point and these matters will be addressed in the hydrogen
strategy, when it is published in due course.
(LD) [V]
I believe that industry is very anxiously awaiting the hydrogen
strategy to which the Minister refers. As other noble Lords have
said, green hydrogen, which does not produce CO2, is relatively
easy to make using the surplus energy we have, most of it from
wind. The strategy must make great efforts in that direction.
(Con)
Green hydrogen is relatively easy to make from electrolysis but
it uses large amounts of electricity, so we need to work on
improving the technology. However, these are all factors that we
are already working on with industry in the Hydrogen Advisory
Council, which will advise us on the next steps forward with the
hydrogen strategy.
(Ind Lab)
My Lords, I declare my interests as a former UK Energy Minister
and as listed in the register. The need for a hydrogen strategy
is now well overdue, as we have heard. Where is the promised £100
million low-carbon hydrogen production fund? Given that most of
the new nuclear schemes have collapsed, how are the Government
now going to achieve their low-carbon targets?
(Con)
The noble Lord mentioned the £100 million of investment through
the low-carbon hydrogen production fund. We are proceeding with
that while also investing up to £121 million between 2015 and
2021 in hydrogen innovation. Yes, we are waiting for the strategy
but also getting on with some of the key building blocks in
advance of it.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, will the Minister give an indication of when the
specific terms of reference of the Hydrogen Advisory Council will
be published? Will he confirm the welcome news that low-carbon
hydrogen use at scale is a central plank of our hosting of COP 26
in Glasgow next year?
(Con)
The Hydrogen Advisory Council has already been established and is
meeting. My noble friend is entirely correct that hydrogen will
play a key role in our decarbonisation efforts. We will want to
set that out fully before the COP in 2021.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, I declare my interests as in the register. Currently
the major basis for hydrogen production, as other noble Lords
have said, is steam methane reforming, of which CO2 is a
by-product. It requires the successful deployment of CCS, which
is a high risk from an engineering and commercial perspective.
Does the Minister agree that a drive in research and development
towards non-methane reforming sources of production needs to be a
major priority?
(Con)
I agree that we need to look at all available technologies for
the production of hydrogen, whether blue or green, including
electrolysis and other methods. It will be a key fuel for our
decarbonisation efforts and we need to consider all available
technologies.
(Con)
My Lords, I too refer to my interests in the register. I
congratulate my noble friend on the fund for innovation but can
he also tell me what work is being done with the construction
industry for future builds, to try to ensure that the innovation
we are investing in is deployed into the new build?
(Con)
We will shortly set out a heat and buildings strategy, which will
take account of these factors. As I mentioned earlier, we are
already working with the boiler manufacturers through a £25
million fund to see how much hydrogen we can currently inject
into the system. Experiments are taking place in various parts of
the country to see how we can deploy hydrogen into the domestic
gas networks. Obviously, we need to work with the boiler
manufacturers to ensure that that works.
