Hydrogen Strategy (UK)

UPDATE (18th August) : the 121 page UK Hydrogen Strategy is here.

Four consultations are started –

(1) the business model – here,

(2) a NetZero Fund – here,

(3) a UK low carbon hydrogen standard – here,

(4) facilitating a grid conversion hydrogen heating trial – here.

The current intention is that low carbon hydrogen producers seeking government support, through a Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, and/or the Hydrogen Business Model would be required to comply with a UK low carbon hydrogen standard in order to secure support.

The standard could also be developed into a certification scheme.

The design elements of a UK low carbon hydrogen standard are expected to be finalised by early 2022, while work continues on delivery and administration considerations.

The approach in the UK will involve a mix of hydrogen production methods, including large scale gas reforming with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) (blue hydrogen with CCUS) and electrolytic hydrogen from low carbon electricity (green hydrogen).

Note the following are out of scope for the purpose of developing a UK low carbon hydrogen standard (and are addressed by separate BEIS work streams that are not yet reporting) –

* End use safety / quality standards e.g., regulations for use of hydrogen in transport, or regulations on hydrogen boilers,

* Gas Safety (Management) Regulations and entry standards for blending hydrogen into the gas grid,

* Standards for other (non-hydrogen) decarbonised gases,

* Wider environmental standards and regulations (e.g., water consumption, air quality) although later work on these areas is not excluded. Hydrogen producers will, in any event, need to comply with current and future regulations on air pollutants including nitrogen oxides (NOx),

* Gas quality – e.g., the Wobbe Index.

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The UK government issued this morning a press release – here – signalling its published Hydrogen Strategy which it is consulting on – but (once again as is typical of these press releases) the strategy document itself is not published (even though the press release is written using the past tense that the document is already in the public domain) nor the consultation questions.

I will update this post on the blog itself (that won’t be a second email notification, so check the blog post) when the strategy document is finally available, with a link to that document, and some comments on its content.

Here is the link to government consultations.

Here is the New Scientist take on the strategy – its link to the strategy itself sends to a 404 page not found.