MPs urge Government to make hydrogen policy technically and economically achievable

A report from the Commons Science and Technology Committee says electric vehicles have an “unassailable” market lead over hydrogen cars and concludes that hydrogen is not likely to be practically and economically viable for mass use in the short and medium term due to the significant cost, technological and infrastructure challenges.

The Committee says hydrogen can grow to become “a big niche” fuel in particular sectors and applications but is not a panacea for reaching the country’s legally binding net zero emissions reductions by 2050.  

The Committee argues that hydrogen will likely have a “specific but limited” role in decarbonising sectors, for example where electrification is not possible, and as a means of storing energy. The Government, it says, needs to give more clarity over how and when it will make decisions about the role of hydrogen in the UK economy.

Currently, hydrogen is overwhelmingly produced from fossil-fuel intensive processes and without greener production methods, hydrogen is not a low-carbon fuel. Green hydrogen relies on abundant renewable electricity and blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas supported by carbon capture and storage. But limited progress on both renewables generation and carbon capture and storage, says the Committee, makes it “unwise to assume hydrogen can make a large contribution to reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions in the short and medium term”.

The report outlines areas where the use of hydrogen has strong potential, including the decarbonisation of UK industrial clusters where hydrogen is already produced; hard to electrify areas of transport, including parts of the rail network, bus networks and some parts of shipping and aviation.

The Committee has asked the Government to outline as a priority a series of decision points between now and 2050 that will set out in practical terms the role of hydrogen in the UK’s future energy system. This should include specifying what scientific and technological progress needs to be made at each stage, such as requirements for the deployment of carbon capture and storage to make blue hydrogen economic and the level of renewable generation that would lead to surplus power which could be used to produce green hydrogen.

Committee Chair Greg Clark MP said, “Hydrogen can play an important role in decarbonising the UK’s economy, but it is not a panacea.

“There are significant infrastructure challenges associated with converting our energy networks to use hydrogen and uncertainty about when low-carbon hydrogen can be produced at scale at an economical cost. But there are important applications for hydrogen in particular industries so it can be, in the words of one witness to our inquiry, “a big niche”.

“We welcome the Government’s high-level strategy and support of hydrogen trials, but future decisions on the role of hydrogen must increasingly be practical, taking into account what is technically and economically achievable. We call on the Government to set out a series of decision points, which would give industry the clarity that it needs.”