The UK is set to exceed its 2030 low carbon hydrogen target with blue hydrogen projects alone, based on the current pipeline, according to analysis.
On 14 September, Westwood Global Energy Group published research, setting out how blue hydrogen projects represent over 16GW of total announced hydrogen capacity in the UK and Norway. There are a greater number of green hydrogen projects in development -four times as much – but it is blue set to drive projected capacity, with this to prove a key catalyst in the development of hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) clusters.
The UK alone is heading towards 13GW of blue hydrogen capacity by 2030, though based on Westwood’s findings has work to do if it wishes to fulfil its goal of “at least half” of its 10GW target coming from electrolytic hydrogen. Capacity according to Westwood is someway short of 5GW, as it stands.
Commenting on the figures, Head of Energy Transition at Westwood, David Linden, said: “Although considerable offshore wind projects are developing in Northwest Europe, hydrogen projects are emerging at an unrivalled pace. The scale of blue hydrogen developments makes them a necessity to ensure 2030 regional targets are met – in fact, the current pipeline of announced capacity for UK projects would exceed targets if all achieved their planned start-up dates.”
