Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Ed Miliband, and Head of the Clean Power 2030 Mission, Chris Stark, recently appeared before the Lords Environment and Climate Change and Science and Technology Committees, where they were grilled about all things energy – including hydrogen.
Hydrogen was brought up when Baroness Brown of Cambridge quizzed the pair on the importance of investing in domestic low-carbon, long-term energy storage, asking in particular if they would be committing to a strategic reserve of energy storage? Miliband set the context, running through how the UK is moving to a system where renewables are a “really important backbone” and dispatchable power will be needed, with many options here, including gas power with CCUS and hydrogen to power.
Stark added to these comments, stating it to be “hard to beat” hydrogen for long-duration energy storage, describing it as a low carbon energy store that works well with a renewable power system. Stark acknowledged there needs to be something that will given an incentive to store hydrogen, with this not in place yet, and while there are good places to put hydrogen, the policy framework is yet to be implemented.
Miliband highlighted the National Infrastructure Commission recommending a strategic reserve, drawing on the role of hydrogen especially, and pointed to the work being done on a hydrogen storage business model. Miliband said this would be an “important step on the road” and assured this government is open-minded about all of this, acknowledging frustrations from the Committees with the last government being “rather oppositional” to it.
Later in the session, the pair were asked about the timeline for the possible use of hydrogen in heating systems, Miliband expressed an eagerness to speed up on the timeline for hydrogen in home heating, with this government wanting to go faster than the previous one – which committed to a decision in 2026. Miliband said: “We think we need to speed up this decision and provide clarity sooner than that and, again, we have said that later on this year we will issue a consultation on this issue.”
