HICP partners comment on the long awaited UK Government Hydrogen Strategy

In August the UK government launched a plan for a world leading hydrogen economy – its first ever vision to support over 9000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion investment by 2030. The strategy plans to drive forward the Prime Minster’s 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution.

In August the UK government launched a plan for a world leading hydrogen economy – its first ever vision to support over 9000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion investment by 2030. The strategy plans to drive forward the Prime Minster’s 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution.

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The Humber region is poised to be world-leading in this field with a number of projects already developing the infrastructure to support low carbon Hydrogen Production.  The strategy also launched a consultation to look at ways to overcome the cost gap between hydrogen and fossil fuels to support this vision.

The Humber Industrial Cluster plan aims to support the UK government 10 point plan by providing a road map of how the region will achieve NetZero by 2040.  Grete Tveit, Senior Vice President, Low Carbon Solutions, Equinor, and HICP project partner said, “ We welcome the publication of the UK's first-ever Hydrogen Strategy and the Government's ambition to kick start a thriving low carbon hydrogen economy. At Equinor, we stand ready to offer low carbon projects, including potentially the UK's first low carbon hydrogen plant H2H Saltend, as well as the Keadby Hydrogen power station and Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage projects we're developing together with SSE Thermal. These projects will help deliver industrial decarbonisation and economic benefits on an unprecedented scale. We look forward to engaging with the consultations and use our extensive experience in helping UK Government meeting the 5 GW low carbon hydrogen production capacity target by 2030”.

Martin Scargill, Managing Director, Centrica Storage and fellow HICP project partner added, “The Government's Hydrogen Strategy is a crucial step in demonstrating commitment to the important role of hydrogen as a low carbon fuel in the future energy mix, in the home and industry. Producing hydrogen at scale will require hydrogen storage facilities to manage the inevitable fluctuations in production and demand, and it's why we are discussing with Government about converting Rough into a major hydrogen-ready storage facility to meet this need at the lowest cost.  In doing so, we hope to help lay the foundations of the hydrogen economy to put us on track to meet the Government's objective of meeting net zero in 2050, reduce the cost of the energy transition to consumers and support a green industrial revolution by creating thousands of jobs in the North.”

Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of SSE Thermal and HICP project partner said: “We strongly welcome the publication of the UK’s Hydrogen Strategy, which marks an important step towards unlocking the huge potential of low-carbon hydrogen. As the UK’s largest and most carbon-intensive industrial cluster, the Humber has to be at the heart of our net zero ambitions, and hydrogen can play a key role in decarbonising energy and industry across the region.”

“In SSE Thermal, we hope to turn the vision set out in the strategy into real action. This includes our plans with Equinor to develop the world’s first major 100%-hydrogen-fired power station at Keadby in North Lincolnshire, as well as a world-leading hydrogen storage facility at Aldbrough on the East Yorkshire coast. We believe these projects can play a key role in transforming the Humber into a net zero cluster by 2040, while supporting a just transition for workers and communities.”

Jonathan Oxley, HICP lead, commented, “This long awaited strategy, really supports our region’s future ambitions.  We are fortunate that we have a number of opportunities in the Hydrogen space all interested in playing a key part in delivering against this national strategy. From feedstock to storage we have all the different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to make this world leading transformation”.

To read further HICP comments on the Hydrogen Strategy click here - https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/humber-ahead-curve-comes-delivering-21355558

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