UK announces ‘package’ to unlock investment in hydrogen

The UK government announced details of £240 million funding to support the production of hydrogen as a clean, low-cost energy technology, £2.5 million of funding to develop next-generation nuclear technology and a further £5 million towards research into carbon capture.

The investment is designed to support research, development and deployment of these cutting-edge technologies and support UK energy independence it needs.

This week also saw the publication of the UK’s energy security strategy, unveiled by the Prime Minister, which sets out how the UK will accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, whilst supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term – which could see 95% of electricity by 2030 being low carbon.

The £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund will fund low carbon hydrogen production projects, with the aim of awarding funding from the end of 2022. This will advance the government’s ambition to have up to 2GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2025 and up to 10GW installed by 2030, using electricity to produce power by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The Hydrogen Business Model will support further investment in hydrogen production with £100 million for electrolytic projects to cover the difference between the cost of production (the strike price) and the sale price for hydrogen (reference price). Funding for this will launch this summer.

The Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator, with £26 million innovation funding will support UK industry in adopting hydrogen as a clean, affordable fuel source for sectors like manufacturing by demonstrating the feasibility of hydrogen to businesses and reducing the cost of switching energy systems.

Maritime UK’s funding opportunities portal will be updated with details of how to engage with these new programmes. In addition, the Maritime UK Technology and Innovation Group has recently established a Hydrogen Network and will discuss these opportunities at its next meeting. Both are open to members of the Maritime UK community, and companies are asked to contact their MUK association to get involved.

Source: Maritime UK