Industry body the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (HFCA) has joined a new energy supply chain taskforce to help accelerate the move towards a net-zero economy and develop hydrogen technologies.

The taskforce will evaluate how existing energy sector businesses can adapt technologies and skills to help with the transition to a low-carbon economy.

It will also provide an amplified voice for the UK energy supply chain at a policy level, according to co-chair Graham Stuart, minister for exports at the Department for International Trade.

“The taskforce will be a joint enterprise between industry and government which will guide policymaking” Stuart, DIT

“The taskforce will be a joint enterprise between industry and government which will guide policymaking so that as many jobs and businesses as possible are created in the UK,” he says. “Domestic delivery and international sales are intertwined—and we will do everything we can to deliver both.”

The HFCA will play an active role on the taskforce in outlining the critical role that hydrogen and fuel cells can play in decarbonising the economy, according to Celia Greaves, CEO of the association.

“As the largest pan-UK hydrogen association, we are proud to bring the breadth and depth of our membership, from across the value chain, to bear in this important new taskforce,” she says.

North Sea Transition Deal

The taskforce is conducting a survey on the views and challenges faced by companies in the sector, with a particular goal of ensuring the energy transition will create jobs and not result in areas of high unemployment, according to UK energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

“The government’s commitment to levelling up every corner of the UK and supporting key government policies like the North Sea Transition Deal will be central to the work of the UK Energy Supply Chain Taskforce,” she says.

The North Sea Transition Deal, signed earlier this year, sets emissions reduction targets for the UK’s oil and gas sector and provides support for up to 40,000 supply chain jobs as part of a plan to decarbonise.

More than 90 pc of the UK’s oil and gas workers are well positioned to work in adjacent energy sectors as the industry starts to decarbonise, according to a report published earlier in the year by Scotland’s Robert Gordon University.

The UK’s Hydrogen Strategy, released last week, recognises there are skill gaps at higher technical levels that might hinder the nation’s ability to expand the hydrogen sector.

40,000 – Jobs supported by North Sea Transition Deal

“We will work with industry, education providers and local and regional authorities to explore opportunities for relevant skills programmes, including apprenticeships and reskilling programmes,” the strategy says.

In July, the Green Jobs Taskforce—a separate body set up by the government to evaluate the implications of the transition on the jobs market—found there was a high level of transferability from oil and gas jobs to decommissioning and subsea network projects, and medium transferability to offshore wind; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; and blue hydrogen.

---

Author: Tom Young