There was good news for a number of hydrogen projects today with the BEIS announcement of funding. Hydrogen is slated to play a key part in the move to Net Zero and if that is going to become a reality funding like this for the first projects will be essential. Among the projects were a couple of green hydrogen trials (hydrogen produced from renewable energy) and the progress and market for hydrogen is being watched and evaluated by the renewables sector. A handful of companies are leading the way. If you track back from 2050 it does not take very long to realise that we need to get some projects through the pre-FEED and FEED stage in the 2020's in order for the construction and production to come on line and the benefits to be demonstrated which will then lead us to wider commercialisation. As well as the renewable energy/hydrogen pilots, the Climate Change Committee itself has said that;
Significant volumes of low-carbon hydrogen should be produced in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) ‘cluster’ by 2030 to help the industry grow
The market mechanisms and legal mechanics to stimulate hydrogen and carbon capture have been consulted on and are yet to be finalised. We will be watching this carefully.
Congratulations to all the successful projects and we are delighted to be working with some of those companies leading the way.
£70 million will include funding for 2 of Europe’s first-ever low carbon hydrogen production plants - the first on the banks of the Mersey, the second planned for near Aberdeen. A third project will develop technology to harness offshore wind off the Grimsby coast to power electrolysis and produce hydrogen.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/90-million-uk-drive-to-reduce-carbon-emissions