Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided for transport projects in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Coventry in each of the last three years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has spent £8.4 billion on transport in the West Midlands region over the last three years, improving connectivity, shortening journey times, reducing congestion, and transporting people and goods.
Figures are not available at the level of individual local authorities. However, in Coventry, recent Government investment includes;
Coventry also stands to benefit from allocations to West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) including
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has carried out a cost benefit analysis for hydrogen fuel cells using deoxygenated air as a fire extinguisher; and whether sufficient fuel cells could be produced domestically.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Although I am not aware of any work on this in the department, a 2001 study by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency indicated that deoxygenated air would be a less effective extinguisher than other extinguishing agents, although neither a detailed cost benefit analysis, nor an environmental impact assessment, were performed.
The UK has a robust fuel cell manufacturing industry, supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre which is joint funded by the Government and the automative industry, so would be well positioned to take advantage of developments in fuel cell technology.
Asked by: Robert Goodwill (Conservative - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many submissions to the second hydrogen allocation round her Department received by 19 April 2024; what the total production capacity of the projects in those submissions is; and if she will provide a breakdown of the locations of those projects by region.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Hydrogen Allocation Round 2 aims to award contracts of up to 875MW, subject to affordability and value for money, to help deliver our ambition of up to 1GW of electrolytic hydrogen production projects being in operation or in construction by 2025. The application window closed on 19 April with a significant increase in interest since Hydrogen Allocation Round 1, both in number and total capacity of projects. We intend to announce the number of applications and total production capacity following initial eligibility checks. In Autumn, we then plan to announce the number, location and total capacity of projects shortlisted for the due diligence and negotiations stage.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help encourage uptake in the use of hydrogen.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our regulatory and policy framework is designed to support offtakers to switch to hydrogen, and includes innovation funding, CAPEX and ongoing revenue support.
DESNZ’s Hydrogen Production Business Model will provide ongoing revenue support to incentivise production and use of low carbon hydrogen. The first in our planned yearly allocation rounds for the Hydrogen Production Business Model represented the largest number of commercial scale green hydrogen projects announced at once anywhere in Europe, and the second round has already closed to applications. Our hydrogen transport and storage business models will link up production and demand, enabling security of supply for offtakers.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the levelised cost of electricity from hydrogen fired power stations that are due to be commissioned before 2030.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Electricity generation costs 2023 report published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero sets out the assumptions for a hydrogen-fired Combined Cycle Hydrogen Turbine (CCHT) power plant commissioned between 2025-2030. The cost of the electricity was stated as £111/MWh for a baseload CCHT commissioning in 2025 and £108/MWh for 2030.
Hydrogen to Power is an emerging technology and as such all figures are subject to change. We will continue to monitor and update cost estimates based on new evidence as it becomes available. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to ensure a just transition when moving from fossil fuels to a hydrogen-based economy.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As well as supporting UK energy independence, low carbon hydrogen will be critical to helping British industries transition from oil and gas, provide greener energy for power, transport and potentially home heating. Government’s working closely with the oil and gas industry to achieve a managed transition, including through the North Sea Transition Deal. Deal recognises the world-leading skills of the sector and supply chain and key role it could have in helping deliver net zero and Hydrogen production ambition. The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill sends a strong signal to support the continued investment necessary to our energy security and transition to cleaner technologies.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which consultations (a) published and (b) inherited by her Department are awaiting a response; and when she plans to publish each of those responses.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has inherited or published 35 consultations, for which a response by the department is still outstanding:
The Department will respond to each in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of hydrogen technology in reducing aviation carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and what steps they are taking to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen-powered aircraft.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government’s Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022, set out our approach to achieving net zero UK aviation by 2050 through multiple different measures. The use of hydrogen is considered in the Zero Emission Flight chapter of the Strategy.
The Strategy anticipates that hydrogen will be first deployed in short haul aviation with recognised uncertainty on the potential for and timing of its scaling up for use in long haul. As with all measures in the Jet Zero Strategy the Government keeps the evidence base under regular review and any changes will be reflected in future updates to the Strategy.
Between 2013 and 2030, industry and government will invest over £5 billion to develop transformational aircraft technology through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme. This includes co-investment in industry led projects to develop hydrogen aircraft in the UK.
In 2022 a Delivery Group of the government and industry forum the Jet Zero Council was established to accelerate the adoption of zero emission flight.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the British energy security strategy policy paper on 7 April 2022, what progress they are making in their ambition for the UK to achieve up to 10 gigawatts of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, with at least half of this coming from electrolytic hydrogen.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Since the British Energy Security Strategy we have made rapid progress, establishing an investable business model to bring forward new hydrogen production facilities and delivering a £240m capital fund to support early deployment. In December 2023, we announced the largest number of commercial scale green hydrogen production projects at once anywhere in Europe, supporting 11 electrolytic projects through the first hydrogen allocation round. The second allocation round is currently underway with annual allocation planned from 2025. This, alongside the cluster sequencing process bringing forward carbon capture and storage-enabled hydrogen, will ensure we remain on track to meet our 2030 ambition.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding assistance they are providing for market structures and mechanisms for supporting increased hydrogen production.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK’s strong policy framework – including the Hydrogen Production Business Model, Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard – has created an investable model which has leveraged private investment to kick start the UK’s hydrogen economy.
Government is supporting projects to move the UK closer to our hydrogen ambitions.
In December 2023 we announced 125MW of successful projects from Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR) 1, and have since launched HAR2, aiming to allocate up to a further 875MW in 2025, subject to affordability and value for money.