A wide-ranging energy strategy was announced yesterday (Thursday April 7) which made new commitments on boosting nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen as part of efforts to lower the UK’s carbon emissions and shore up energy security.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the new financial package includes £240m to support the production of “clean” hydrogen. Hydrogen is a potentially zero-carbon fuel source, although if it is derived from fossil fuels it can actually be more carbon intensive than using gas.
This is because there are two approaches to producing hydrogen: blue hydrogen (produced by splitting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide) and green hydrogen (produced by splitting water via electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen).
Green hydrogen requires a large energy input from a renewable source, but blue hydrogen cannot be described as a zero-emission fuel source.
The £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund will aim...