While UK hydrogen deployment has been slower than anticipated, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has called for the opportunity to be seized to make the most of it as a decarbonisation tool.
Releasing a new report, OEUK noted that with the right policies in place, hydrogen can present a decarbonisation pathway and £1.6 billion opportunity for the UK economy by the mid-2030s. In the oil and gas sector, it says the UK has a key enabler for low carbon hydrogen with gas necessary to produce it with carbon capture and storage. It claimed this to be the “quickest and most cost-effective way” to scale up supply.
Its recommendations, therefore, include prioritising deployment of hydrogen into industries where it can make the biggest impact in decarbonising sectors; committing to realistic, deliverable deployment targets to attract investment and build confidence in the sector; and ensuring funding mechanisms for hydrogen business models are fair and proportionate.
It also wants to see policies recognise the “critical important” of domestic gas production in delivering the scale of low carbon hydrogen supplies that are needed to create this new market.
OEUK Head of Energy Policy, Enrique Cornejo, said: “The UK has the people, projects, and potential to make hydrogen a cornerstone of our energy future – but without urgent action, that opportunity could slip through our fingers. The UK has over 100 hydrogen projects in the pipeline, equating to more than 15GW of production capacity, but without clarity on key areas and policies, these projects will struggle to progress.”
