Western England and South Wales could pioneer UK's hydrogen ambitions
A new plan to show how South Wales and Western England can make the UK a global leader in net zero technology was unveiled at a national conference in Newport today. The conference brought together Welsh and UK politicians with businesses and international companies to discuss the role of hydrogen in decarbonising sectors which currently face the biggest challenges to meeting their net zero commitments. The Western Gateway Hydrogen Delivery Pathway suggests that investing in hydrogen infrastructure within the area could create up to 40,000 new jobs (directly and indirectly) and safeguard a further 60,000 existing jobs.
By investing in hydrogen for the sectors which need it in the area, the plans also suggested that between 16,000 and 21,000 kilo tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved by 2050.
The plans build on the area as a centre for aviation engineering (it is home to 14 of the 15 world largest aerospace manufacturers) and suggests that it could take a lead in creating the sustainable air fuel for the future.
The plans were unveiled at Hydrogen Gateway, a national net zero conference led by the Western Gateway Partnership in collaboration with Hydrogen South West, the South Wales Industrial Cluster and the GW4 Alliance (which brings together the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter).
The review suggests that the area could become centre for net zero rail innovation and would need between £8 billion and £62 billion of new capital investment in order to make the most of these opportunities.
It would also require education and skills providers to retrain up to 108,000 workers and build a pipeline of new skills for the future.
The technical review of the Western Gateway area’s existing energy supply and demands and hydrogen forecasts through to 2050 has revealed that while hydrogen is unlikely to be the whole answer in achieving net zero, there is broad agreement that it needs to be part of the solution. Building on the area’s skills and resources there are opportunities to unlock the potential of hydrogen technologies to ensure the UK leads the world in finding solutions to enable the transition to net zero by 2050.
The review calls for low carbon hydrogen production to come on stream where and when it is required, enabling hydrogen distribution networks and storage to be available to facilitate its movement and use, develop a skilled workforce in hydrogen, help spin out hydrogen innovation from universities into the commercial world and build wider confidence in hydrogen technology to drive investment.
Katherine Bennett CBE, Chair of the Western Gateway (a former senior vice president at Airbus and now Chief Executive of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult) said: “Our area has huge potential to deliver opportunities for the rest of the UK.
“Using our combined strengths and skills, our leaders and businesses are ready to provide huge economic opportunity for both countries finding world saving solutions for some of the toughest decarbonisation problems as the UK’s Green Energy Powerhouse.”
Also speaking at the conference was the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, chair of the UK Net Zero Review.
He said: “Last year the government confirmed that hydrogen is a key part of its plans to reach Net Zero, with aims to increase production to 10GW by 2030 and the announcement of a new national Hydrogen Champion. The Western Gateway has nationally significant strengths in hydrogen, from the South Wales Industrial Cluster to the hydrogen hub in Swindon, and I’m delighted to support their work to power the UK’s Net Zero economy.”
The Western Gateway is the Pan-Regional Partnership for South Wales and Western England. Reaching from Swansea to Swindon, the partnership brings together business, universities and local leaders to work together to add an extra £34bn to the economy by 2030 and reach Net Zero.
What is HYDROGEN?
Source: The National Grid
Hydrogen is a clean alternative to methane, also known as natural gas. It's the most abundant chemical element, estimated to contribute 75 per cent of the mass of the universe.
Here on earth, vast numbers of hydrogen atoms are contained in water, plants, animals and, of course, humans. But while it’s present in nearly all molecules in living things, it’s very scarce as a gas – less than one part per million by volume.
Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biogas and renewable power like solar and wind. The challenge is harnessing hydrogen as a gas on a large scale to fuel homes and businesses.
Why is hydrogen important as a future clean energy source?
A fuel is a chemical that can be ‘burnt’ to provide useful energy. Burning normally means that chemical bonds between the elements in the fuel are broken and the elements chemically combine with oxygen (often from the air).
For many years, we’ve used natural gas to heat our homes and businesses, and for power stations to generate electricity. In the UK, 85 per cent of homes and 40 per cent of the country’s electricity currently relies on gas; in the US, 47 per cent of households rely on natural gas and 36 per cent on electricity.
Methane is the main constituent of 'natural gas' from oil and gas fields. We’ve continued to use natural gas because it’s a readily available resource, it’s cost effective and it’s a cleaner alternative to coal – the dirtiest fossil fuel that we historically relied on for heating and to generate electricity.
When natural gas is burnt, it provides heat energy. But a waste product alongside water is carbon dioxide, which when released into the atmosphere contributes to climate change. Burning hydrogen does not release carbon dioxide.
The difference between blue hydrogen and green hydrogen
Blue hydrogen is produced using natural gas as a feedstock by using one of two primary methods:
- Steam methane reformation is the most common method for producing bulk hydrogen and accounts for most of the world’s production. This method uses a reformer, which reacts steam at a high temperature and pressure with methane and a nickel catalyst to form hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO).
- Autothermal reforming uses oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) or steam to react with methane to form hydrogen.
The downside of these two methods is that they produce carbon as a by-product, so carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential to trap and store this carbon.
Green hydrogen is produced by using electricity to power an electrolyser that splits the hydrogen from water molecules. This process produces pure hydrogen, with no harmful by-products. An added benefit is that, because this method uses electricity, it also offers the potential to divert any excess electricity – which is hard to store (like surplus wind power) – to electrolysis, using it to create hydrogen gas that can be stored for future energy needs.
Hydrogen is already being used as a fuel
There are already cars that run on hydrogen fuel cells. China has the highest number of hydrogen fuelling stations for road vehicles worldwide, where you can fill up just as you would with petrol or diesel and in the same time frame as a traditional fuel car. Japan has the second highest number of these fuelling stations, followed by South Korea, Germany and the US.
Hydrogen is also an exciting lightweight fuel option for road, air and shipping transportation. The international delivery company DHL already has a fleet of ‘H2 panel vans’, capable of travelling 500km without refuelling.
What are the potential brakes to speeding up hydrogen use as a clean energy?
For hydrogen to be a viable alternative to methane, it has to be produced at scale, economically and the current infrastructure needs to be adapted.
The good news is that hydrogen can be transported through gas pipelines, minimising disruption and reducing the amount of expensive infrastructure needed to build a new hydrogen transmission network. There would also be no need for a culture change in our home lives, as people are used to using natural gas for cooking and heating, and hydrogen energy equivalents are emerging.
