The UK's National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has urged the government to prioritise hydrogen for industry, power generation and energy storage and to rule out its use for domestic heating.
To ensure the UK can cope with a power system that is increasingly based on intermittent renewable energy, the government should by next year implement an incentive scheme to develop 30TWh of clean power generation capacity by 2035 based on decarbonised hydrogen or natural gas where the CO2 emissions are captured, NIC said in its five-yearly report.
These sites need to be connected to a hydrogen network to ensure heavy industry has the means to decarbonise and remain competitive in global markets, NIC said. The commission has called on the government to build a core hydrogen transmission network by 2035 connecting the industrial hubs of Teesside, Humberside, Merseyside, south Wales as well as Scotland's northeast and the Grangemouth area.
The inclusion of Wales depends on the use of hydrogen in steel, which accounts for 90pc of emissions in the area, it added. NIC estimates that hydrogen and carbon networks could cost a combined £12bn-22bn ($14.6bn-26.8bn), depending on the extent to which natural gas pipes can be reused. The body has called for the government to map the initial network by the end of 2024.
"Policy to support development of infrastructure is not moving forward at the pace needed," NIC said, adding that the UK will not have a support mechanism ready until 2025. The commission also said that the UK will need 8TWh of hydrogen storage by 2035, up from under 1TWh today. The government must act now as building storage sites can take up to 10 years, it said. The country has thousands of TWh of theoretical storage capacity in salt caverns and depleted oil and gas reservoirs, according to the commission.
The UK needs to set up a national energy reserve to cope with energy price shocks, and by 2040 this should store enough hydrogen to provide 25TWh of power, sufficient to power the UK for two weeks by that time, NIC said. The commission has also told the government to rule out hydrogen for domestic heating to galvanise action on electric heat pumps. Running costs for heat pumps would be cheaper than hydrogen boilers and converting natural gas networks would be too complex and slow to meet climate goals, it said.
The UK government has set a date of 2026 to decide on hydrogen heating. Some representatives from the oil and gas sector have backed the idea, but hydrogen heating trials have faced public opposition and there have been indications from the energy ministry that it may not go through with the plans. The government is expected to respond formally to NIC's assessment within 12 months.
