HYDROGEN INDUSTRY


REA


SUSTA GOAL


CLEAN


The UK government’s Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, lays out plans to adopt alternative green energy sources. Toby Horne and Ollie Finkill, Siemens Financial Services UK,


look at how investment in hydrogen and EV infrastructure will be crucial in the realisation of the UK’s Net Zero goals


T


o cut emissions by a minimum of 68% by 2030, and reach Net Zero by 2050, the government


seeks to take advantage of new green technologies and initiatives that will offer opportunities for growth, turning the UK into the ‘birthplace of the Green Industrial Revolution’. However, infrastructure is needed to improve


sustainability and move to Net Zero solutions. The government has laid out its plans to


power the whole country entirely by clean electricity by 2035. But while electricity will be the primary source of energy, there are many sectors where electrification is not suitable, making the supply of low carbon alternatives essential to achieving Net Zero targets. Working with industry, the government is


aiming for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for use across the economy. With virtually no low carbon hydrogen produced or used currently, particularly to supply energy, this will require rapid and significant scale up from where we are today. Modelling suggests that the use of low carbon


hydrogen could deliver total emissions savings of around 41MtCO2e between 2023 and 2032, equivalent to the carbon captured by 700 million trees over the same time period. Some applications for decarbonisation, such as


industrial heating, may be virtually impossible without a supply of hydrogen, and many experts have argued that these are the cases where it should be prioritised, at least in the short term. Yet there is also a significantly less talked


about usage for hydrogen: fuel cells in vehicles. In a hydrogen fuel cell, the clean burning compressed gas is converted first to electricity and then powers the bus, train or even aircraft or ship engine. So the likely mainstream solution may be hybrid vehicles that can either take electric power from a direct source, or generate it from hydrogen combustion.


14 ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Summer 2023 www.essmag.co.uk


ELECTRIC VEHICLES Transport is one of the highest emitting industries in the country, and while the exact mix is yet to be determined it is abundantly clear that grid-powered and hydrogen-powered EVs will rapidly replace fossil fuel engines. The sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from 2030, and by 2035 all vehicles will have to run with zero emissions. This means that developing charging infrastructure is critical to the success of the EV transition. At the end of September 2022, there were


34,860 electric vehicle public charging points across the UK, across 20,888 locations. This represents a 35% increase in the number of charging devices since September 2021. The government has recognised this issue and launched a recent additional initiative to


accelerate network growth. The key points of the initiative are: • More than 1,000 new electric vehicle chargepoints to be installed in a new pilot, as part of a wider £450 million scheme


• Chargepoints will be built across nine local authorities across England, including Durham, Nottinghamshire and Suffolk


• Nearly £20 million from government and industry funding for pilot winners and further £10 million for existing chargepoint scheme. However, recent figures from the Department


of Transport have revealed that, on average, only 800 new chargers are being added to the public network per month – a that rate needs to increase to 3,130 a month (roughly 100 per day), if the government is to meet its target of 300,000 devices nationwide by 2030. Autumn 2022 saw a watershed moment in the UK


EV market, with Britain’s millionth plug-in electric car registered (249,575 had joined the roads at that point in 2022 alone). The EV infrastructure investment challenge to meet this rapid growth in demand is considerable. One key analyst reports that with more EVs coming to market, revenues from EV charging of passenger cars alone will surge


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