Why Hydrogen?
Hydrogen is set to play an important role in helping us reach net zero with the Climate Change Committee predicting we will need around 100 TWh of hydrogen by 2050.
Power
Hydrogen can help to balance the power system, either by generating heat immediately or by storing energy for long durations when renewable sources are generating more electricity than the country needs and dispatching in periods of low renewables output.
Industry
Hydrogen can be used as a low carbon fuel in industry, which is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. A conversion to hydrogen can be relatively low cost and straightforward with many successful trials completed and commercial projects soon to deploy in the UK.
Transport
The transport sector accounts for around 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and has a significant impact on air quality. Electric vehicles will be a huge part of the solution but while the take up of passenger electric cars is growing, the rest of the transport sector faces a bigger challenge. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could help address this challenge particularly for longer journey fleet vehicles, HGVs and return-to-base vehicles. Hydrogen could also be used in rail, shipping and aviation. As hydrogen vehicles emit only water vapour and warm air they can help to improve local air quality.
Heating buildings
Most UK homes and businesses rely on natural gas, a fossil fuel, for heating and cooking. This accounts for about 23% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions. Moving to low-carbon hydrogen gas for heating and cooking, is one of the ways to help solve this issue.
