The UK’s leading renewable energy trade association, RenewableUK, has urged the government to put in place policies and regulations aimed specifically at supporting the country’s green hydrogen sector or risk losing out to other countries with more robust “electrolyser-specific strategies”.

The UK’s national hydrogen strategy takes a twin-track approach to technology, supporting the expansion of both renewables-based green and gas-based blue hydrogen.

“If ever there was a time to step up our efforts to replace expensive gas with a clean, flexible fuel which fulfils the same role but uses cheap renewables instead, it is right now,” says Laurie Heyworth, emerging technologies policy analyst at RenewableUK.

The government should develop a detailed roadmap showing how to hit its target of around 5GW of green hydrogen capacity by 2030, including a supportive planning regime that would enable electrolysers to be built alongside windfarms, the association says. Electrolysers should be exempt from some charges for access to the grid, while the government’s proposed Hydrogen Business Model support scheme should be flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of large and small projects, RenewableUK says in a report titled Green Hydrogen: Optimising Net Zero.

5GW – UK 2030 target for green hydrogen production

“The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) should ensure it does not adopt a one size fits all approach to the design of the business model, but instead be cognisant that there are multiple different hydrogen production archetypes, all with different characteristics and requirements,” it says.

The business model, the design of which is still under development, should include a 5MW threshold for eligibility, rather than 10MW as is under consideration, the association says.

RenewableUK also criticises the UK’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard. In its current form the standard defines hydrogen meeting a threshold of 20gCO₂/MJ at the point of production as “low carbon”. RenewableUK says the standard should differentiate between “zero-carbon” and “low-carbon” hydrogen, with an incentive for green hydrogen producers that not only meet the standard but track downwards toward zero carbon across the life of the plant.

“Beis’ decision to use a single low-carbon hydrogen label for all certified hydrogen production obscures the premium many customers associate with green hydrogen as a zero-carbon fuel, RenewableUK says.

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Author: Stuart Penson