The UK needs both electrolytic hydrogen and CCUS-enabled hydrogen, with Hydrogen UK exploring how the latter can play its full role on a path to net zero.
Advantages of CCUS-enabled hydrogen include how it can relieve pressure on an already constrained grid, ensuring renewable electricity generation and with it, electrolytic hydrogen production, can both scale at a more manageable pace. As well as a host of economic and decarbonisation benefits, it can also call on the extensive expertise of the oil and gas industry, aiding a just transition.
To cash in on these benefits, Hydrogen UK set out how government must provide further clarity and certainty on the process and funding envelope for cluster sequencing. It explained how essential it is that the UK is able to maintain its early momentum in the CCUS-enabled production space and the investment that has currently been set aside for UK projects does not go elsewhere because of uncertainty or delays.
It is also calling for the Head of Terms for Hydrogen Production Business Model (HPBM) to be fine-tuned in an effort to “break the chain of risk” facing early movers. This will ensure they can concentrate on managing risks that are actually within their sphere of control. Once reliable infrastructure is established, multiple CO2 storage sites are in place, hydrogen can be blended into the gas networks, and a solid network of hydrogen consumers has been built, these risks will fall away.
Novel technologies should be supported in the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard ahead commercial deployment, as this will ensure their deployment is not hampered by an inability to access government funding. It also stressed that the definition of CCUS by government should explicitly include production pathways that output solid carbon. This will remove the risk that rules and regulations relating to CCUS unwittingly exclude hydrogen production methods such as thermal plasma electrolysis and pyrolysis.
Finally, it explained how clarity is required when it comes to CO2 transport and storage infrastructure access for CCUS-enabled hydrogen production projects. This goes for projects that are both inside and outside of industrial clusters. It will be particularly important in avoiding any lag periods where CCUS-enabled production projects are unable to operate because of a lack of access to transport and storage infrastructure. It will also provide the necessary confidence for projects to proceed within current timelines.
