Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help ensure that UK hydrogen and fuel cell technology manufacturers benefit from the comprehensive Public Financial Institution offer set out in the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan.

The UK is well placed to be a global leader in hydrogen deployment and supply chains, with significant export market potential for UK manufacturers. The Clean Energy Industries Plan (CEI) sets out a comprehensive Public Finance Institution offer to crowd private investment into sustainable supply chains in the UK and we will ensure hydrogen benefits from this. The offer includes:

• Energy, Engineered in the UK (EEUK) is Great British Energy’s (GBE) flagship supply chain investment programme, delivering £1 billion of funding to increase UK manufacturing capacity, drive down technology costs, and create and support jobs across the UK. GBE is currently engaging with companies in various clean energy sectors, including the hydrogen supply chain, to explore potential interventions under EEUK.
• The National Wealth Fund has committed to direct part of its £5.8 billion capitalisation towards low carbon hydrogen and its associated supply chains. Hydrogen is also one of the 10 sectors they have selected to catalyse in their recently published 5-year Strategic Plan.

DESNZ is collaborating with the public finance institutions to align these offers with the needs of hydrogen and fuel cell manufacturers.