Hydrogen

(asked on 10th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to grow the UK's hydrogen economy.


Answered by
Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait
Kwasi Kwarteng
This question was answered on 18th June 2020

The Government is committed to exploring the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier, alongside electricity and other decarbonised gases. In line with this we are investing up to £121m in hydrogen innovation, supporting the application of new low carbon hydrogen technologies across the value chain. This includes:

  • £23m Hydrogen for the Transport Programme - to increase the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles and grow the number of publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations;
  • £25m for the Hy4Heat programme - to explore the safety and feasibility of using 100% hydrogen for heat in the home, including product development and core safety assessment;
  • Up to £20m for the Industrial Fuel Switching Competition - to test the potential for switching to hydrogen (and other low carbon fuels) in industrial sectors like cement and glass manufacture; and
  • £33m for the Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply Competition – to support the development of bulk low carbon hydrogen production technologies.

Alongside our innovation activity, we are developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and building sustainable policy frameworks to support investment in low carbon hydrogen production. This includes developing a sustainable business model to support low carbon hydrogen production and a new £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund, as announced in August 2019, to stimulate capital investment. We will be engaging with industry on both schemes throughout the year.

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