Members of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (UK HFCA) will lobby parliament in September to help drive the UK to net zero.
On 19 August, the UK HFCA outlined how businesses and organisations across energy, transport and industry will join MPs and its own representatives for a “Seizing the UK’s Hydrogen Opportunity Rally”, striving to push government on three key priorities for the hydrogen economy. These are accelerating progress on the development of hydrogen storage, developing a practical strategy for transport, and creating reliable codes, standards and regulations for the sector.
Specifically, the UK HFCA wants the transport strategy to recognise the key role hydrogen has to play particularly in trucks, shipping, trains and aviation, and include infrastructure, vehicles and the range of energy vectors that carry hydrogen. It noted so far, hydrogen for transport has been left relying on “a patchwork of grants and policy levers” with no clear strategy to link and progress all aspects of a hydrogen transport network over the medium to longer term.
It further deemed regulatory standards to be often inappropriate and unsuitable, either being adapted from other fuels that are very different or just missing entirely. As for a plan for hydrogen storage, Celia Greaves – UK HFCA CEO and founder – explained: “This is key to ensuring ensuring energy resilience, a vital element of the UK energy landscape, and of increasing importance following recent international events. Hydrogen has been recognised by Government as a clear no regret decision for long duration storage. We now need to see steps put in place to make this happen.”
The UK HFCA is working closely with MPs to demand government support on these three areas for discussion at the lobbying event.
