In the face of soaring gas prices, the UK government is being urged to reconsider its support for blue hydrogen.
The UK Hydrogen Strategy’s headline target – for the UK to host 5GW of blue and green hydrogen production capacity by 2030 – was recently doubled to 10GW through the Energy Security Strategy. That strategy has firmed up the Government’s commitment to a “twin-track” approach, in which at least half of the new generation capacity should be green and the remainder blue.
Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, co-author of a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), said “Europe is facing three challenges, namely reducing gas prices, offering a secure supply of energy and continuing towards energy transition goals. There is only one way to meet all of them – reducing gas demand. Investing in blue hydrogen production would do quite the opposite.”
Proponents of blue hydrogen argue that it is easy to scale and, at present, global production prices are lower. However, opponents argue that blue hydrogen production could become a risky investment as the transition away from natural gas and efforts to reach net-zero emissions continue.
