According to new research published by the Energy Networks Association (ENA), the country’s wind and solar farms produce enough spare electricity in spring and summer, when demand is lower, to produce green hydrogen to the equivalent capacity of 25 Hinkley Point C nuclear power plants.
The hydrogen stored would provide the same amount of energy needed for every person in the UK to charge a Tesla Model S electric vehicle more than 21 times, in the autumn and winter months when energy demand is highest, creating a clean energy buffer that avoids having to manage limited energy supplies on the international markets.
The research also finds that the UK has enough capacity to store the hydrogen in a combination of salt caverns and disused oil and gas fields in the North Sea, as well other locations, to meet this demand.
The research also finds that renewable hydrogen would help reduce the total number of wind farms needed in 2050 by more than 75 per cent,...