Hydrogen Central

Following COP26, all Eyes Turn to The United Kingdom for Hydrogen Energy Leadership, Forbes

united kingdom hydrogen energy leadership

Following COP26, all eyes turn to the united kingdom for hydrogen energy leadership.

[Forbes] Co-founder and CEO of HyPoint, the company developing zero-carbon emission hydrogen fuel cell systems for aviation and urban air mobility.

It was not coincidental that the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and its signature agreement to keep global temperature rise at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the Glasgow Climate Accord, was signed in the United Kingdom: The country is eager to position itself as a leader in clean energy and decarbonization.

Boris Johnson Glasgow Climate Accord, U.K. Prime Minister said:

We finally came to the kind of game-changing agreement that the world needed to see.

calling it a “decisive shift in the world’s approach to tackling climate emissions” and suggesting that it marks the “beginning of the end” to coal power. “Glasgow has sounded the death knell for coal power,” Johnson said.

It was surprisingly candid for a politician of a major country, especially to the ears of Americans, where the coal industry is still prevalent, though expected to decline. (Also, the last major hurdle of COP26 was overcoming objections from India and China — two of the world’s biggest producers, consumers, and importers of coal — on the phrase “phasing out” of coal; “phasing down” was ultimately agreed upon).

But, when looking at Johnson’s previous comments and policy objectives, his comments at COP26 do not seem out of character. In February, Johnson committed the U.K. to making a “big bet on hydrogen.” In October at the Global Investment Summit, he reiterated this point, stating: “We are making big bets on hydrogen, on solar and hydro and yes of course, on nuclear as well.”

Johnson is far from alone. The pro-hydrogen message has been reinforced by other senior U.K. government ministers, including the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng as well as the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

Kwarteng set out this model in his foreword to the recently-announced U.K. Hydrogen Strategy, stating:

Our ambition for hydrogen goes beyond decarbonization.

“It also means a focus on supporting industry to develop sustainable, home-grown supply chains, create high quality jobs, and capitalize on British innovation and expertise.”

The opposition (Labour Party) has also called for greater ambition on hydrogen.

According to Parliamentary records, hydrogen was referenced 79 times in Parliament in 2018. In 2019, it was mentioned 95 times. In 2020, 392 times. So far, in 2021, it had already been referenced more than 500 times by the end of November.

This is partly because of the previously mentioned Hydrogen Strategy, unveiled in August, which articulates the U.K. government’s ambition to create a “world-leading hydrogen economy.” But that’s not all — the U.K. has issued several important policy documents that feature hydrogen as a key element of its “Net Zero” ambitions, including:

  • The prime minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, in which hydrogen was point number two.
  • The Transport Decarbonization Plan, which included £3 million for the U.K.’s first Hydrogen Transport Hub in Tees Valley.
  • The Net Zero Strategy, which included £140 million for the Industrial Decarbonization and Hydrogen Revenue Support (IDHRS) scheme to fund new hydrogen and industrial carbon capture business models.
  • The Heat and Buildings Strategy, which stated that the Government will take “strategic decisions on the role of hydrogen in heating by 2026.”
  • A new £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, which aims to support at-scale deployment of low carbon hydrogen production during the 2020s, and is consulting on how to design this.

These objectives reflect the fact the U.K. is well-positioned to become a global leader in the hydrogen economy if it can effectively leverage its many natural advantages.

The country can draw on a massive technical and academic talent pool to grow its already world-leading ecosystem of hydrogen manufacturers: ITM Power built the world’s largest hydrogen gigafactory in Sheffield, England; Wrightbus produced the world’s first hydrogen double-decker bus; and Riversimple is building hydrogen passenger cars in Wales — just to name a few. Additionally, the Making Hydrogen Happen campaign and the Hydrogen Task Force have brought together networks of companies across the hydrogen sector to coordinate activity.

The U.K. is also making particular progress on the zero-emission aviation front, which is critical to solving climate change given the aviation industry’s outsize impact on human-made polluting emissions.

ZeroAvia flew the first hydrogen-powered passenger airplane in Cranfield, England in 2020 and plans to fly passengers from London to Rotterdam by 2024, a big step for zero-emission passenger flight. In May, Cranfield Aerospace (also in Cranfield) announced “Project Fresson,” a hydrogen aviation initiative. In October, Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace raised more than $200 million to support the development of its zero-emission aircraft.

For business leaders and tech innovators, these developments create unique opportunities for a variety of sales and business development partnerships, especially as global demand for clean, inexpensive energy skyrockets. (And I’ve written previously about the ways in which the hydrogen economy is already transforming our lives and creating new business opportunities).

These developments should also offer business leaders a glimpse of what is possible if government and private industry work together toward clean energy innovation — and a playbook for creating similar change in their own countries. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.

After all, the U.K. isn’t pushing hydrogen for no reason: It wants to take a significant share of an international industry expected to be worth an estimated $2.5 trillion by 2050 and one that will support 30 million jobs. Businesses and governments around the world are already clamoring for a piece of this pie and leaders would be wise to pay attention to the bellwether if they want to invest for the long term.

Read the rest of the story in the link below.

Following COP26, All Eyes Turn To The United Kingdom For Hydrogen Energy Leadership, December 30, 2021

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