A new whitepaper has urged the UK Government to fast-track hydrogen adoption across sectors, warning that regulatory barriers and insufficient incentives threaten progress.
The document released by UK-based hydrogen innovation consortium HyDEX, calls for a coordinated approach across government departments and siloes to be “broken down across industries.”
Based on a series of four industry roundtables with companies and organisations across the UK value chain, the report highlights misalignment between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Transport (DfT).
“Without cohesive coordination, efforts to integrate hydrogen into the wider transport sector, including the aviation sector, remain fragmented and less effective,” it said.
Attendees at the roundtable said more impactful financial incentives are needed to bridge the cost gap between clean hydrogen and fossil fuels. They particularly mentioned raising the carbon price to motivate first-movers to complete projects.
“The current carbon price in the UK emissions trading scheme (ETS) is not high enough to drive widespread adoption,” the paper said. “Without sufficient financial incentives to make hydrogen economically viable for heavy industries, they will continue to rely on carbon-intensive fossil fuels.”
On the infrastructure side, it highlighted the need for a government-provided roadmap for various sectors to guide industry in preparing and supporting the infrastructure rollout.
Additionally, it noted a need to improve public understanding of hydrogen’s benefits and costs through a public communication campaign, to “help increase sales and build confidence in the industry.” Furthermore, it said the skills shortage for hydrogen jobs is a significant barrier to progress and called for the development of comprehensive training programmes.
“Hydrogen has the potential to revolutionise our energy landscape, but it requires a concerted effort from both the government and industry to realize this potential,” said Prof. Martin Freer, Academic Chair of HyDEX.
“By aligning policies, investing in skills, and providing market certainty, we can ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the global hydrogen race.”
The report comes after Labour’s first 100 days in government, within which it had been called on to sign contracts for 11 green hydrogen projects, fund carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) clusters, and introduce a ministerial role with direct responsibility for hydrogen, by trade body Hydrogen UK.
Read more:Hydrogen UK presses next govt to fast-track £2bn green hydrogen projects
So far, the new government has committed £22bn over 25 years to the UK’s two major CCUS clusters in Teesside and Merseyside.
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