Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of waiving grid fees for electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen, as has been implemented in Germany, as part of planned reform of the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation.

Officials from the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are in regular contact on the development of our green hydrogen policies. This includes the matter of grid fees, or more specifically the network charges relevant to the production of green hydrogen.

The Department has consulted on options to reward renewable hydrogen more flexibly under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). These include extending eligibility to renewable hydrogen production from energy supplied over the grid. A Government Response including final proposals will be published before the end of the year. However, the RTFO scheme does not offer a means of providing exemptions from network charges. The RTFO is a separate renewables support scheme to those run by Ofgem, and the RTFO applies no charges in respect of the electricity used to produce renewable hydrogen. Consequently, there have been no ministerial discussions on waiving grid fees in the context of RTFO reform.

The Government’s hydrogen strategy includes measures to develop and scale up hydrogen in transport over the 2020s, building on UK expertise and assets in both electrolytic (green) and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) enabled (blue) hydrogen. It is our ambition to become a world leader in the production and use of green hydrogen. We are ensuring that transport trials use green hydrogen to help drive the development of the hydrogen vehicle and the green hydrogen production supply chains. To support hydrogen production the strategy also includes a consultation on Net zero hydrogen fund (£240m), low carbon hydrogen standard and the hydrogen business model, offering support beyond just transport.