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Government plans ‘whole town’ hydrogen trials by 2030
The UK government is set to trial “whole town hydrogen heating” by the end of the decade, according to its new national hydrogen strategy.
On Tuesday, the government unveiled its hydrogen strategy as a key part of the UK’s plans to reduce the use of fossil fuels, with a consultation planned for the autumn on the possibility of requiring all new home boilers to be easily convertible to hydrogen by 2026.
According to the strategy, the government “will also use this consultation to test proposals on the future of broader boiler and heating system efficiency and explore the best ways to reduce carbon emissions from our gas heating systems over the next decade”.
It said: “Hydrogen has the potential to play a key role in decarbonising heat in buildings in the UK. We are rapidly delivering major studies and testing work to understand the feasibility of using hydrogen for heating to inform broader strategic decisions in 2026 on heat decarbonisation.”
The government also aims to undertake hydrogen heat trials for a neighbourhood sized scheme by 2023, a village by 2025 and a potential pilot hydrogen town by 2030, with the trials informing the government’s strategic decision on the future of hydrogen in 2026.
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The trial neighbourhood project will be in Fife and will see the building of a 100% electrolytic hydrogen production and distribution network which will be hooked up to 300 homes with hydrogen-powered heating. The trial aims to demonstrate hydrogen for domestic heating in the UK at scale.
In March, the UK and Scottish government also outlined plans to each invest £50m as part of Heads of Terms for the Islands Growth Deal to support the future economic prosperity of Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides, including several projects providing support for hydrogen.
Last month, a number of the UK’s big boiler manufacturers announced plans for a new price promise on hydrogen-ready boilers, stating that they would cost no more than a natural gas equivalent.
Manufacturers Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Baxi and Ideal have agreed to the joint initiative, which they said could save consumers up to £2.3bn in costs. The agreement has been formed to help the UK transition away from natural gas to the less CO2-emitting hydrogen form of heating.
According to the four manufacturers, any hydrogen boiler will be designed to work initially off natural gas, with a maximum of one hour’s labour to convert it to hydrogen use.
