Accelerating the development of a green hydrogen market in the UK can help to realise almost £11bn of socio-economic benefits over 30 years, a report has revealed.
The Green Hydrogen Alliance (GHA), which includes the likes of Airbus, Air Products and Associated British Ports (ABP), explored a scenario where renewable fuels are imported, helping to provide the feedstock for green hydrogen production. It set out a vision where three production facilities are developed, capable of generating 900MW of green hydrogen each year, to help kickstart a UK market.
It explained that this would not counteract the growth of a domestic hydrogen sector but, instead, help to provide a guaranteed supply. This guaranteed supply would bring much needed investment certainty and enable domestic companies to push forward with building their own production infrastructure.
Benefits would include reduced carbon dioxide emissions of around 1.7mn tonnes a year, £1.5bn from reduced local air pollution and £500mn from levelling up benefits. This investment in green hydrogen production would likely create demand for 4,400 workers during project construction, followed by 3,700 further roles once the production plants and distribution networks are up and running.
Building on this, the GHA made a series of recommendations, including allowing a level playing field for renewable feedstock imports to boost the UK’s green hydrogen economy over the short-term; making the UK’s green hydrogen policy environment a more investable proposition to lure in capital; and streamlining planning permission for renewable hydrogen production sites by classifying them as critical national infrastructure, while also making them eligible for capital subsidies.
It also called for work to begin with industry to develop a roadmap for green hydrogen distribution networks of depots, refuelling stations and delivery networks that branch out from production and import sites, and for R&D into green hydrogen technologies to be incentivised, helping to spur innovation and drive down costs across the green hydrogen value chain, thus kickstarting a domestically resilient market.
