Hydrogen is one of the low carbon solutions that will be critical for the UK’s transition to net zero.
UK homes are responsible for around 20% of carbon emissions, so decarbonising how we heat them is vital. Enter low carbon hydrogen, a replacement for fossil fuels.
Transitioning to hydrogen for domestic heating will allow us to build a cleaner, greener energy system while creating thousands of well-paid jobs.
That's why we’re using our decades of experience to overcome current challenges around storage and help kickstart the hydrogen economy - creating a more stable energy supply, levelling-up communities and helping our customers reach net zero by 2050.
The Challenges and Why Hydrogen Colour Matters
While it has many advantages, there are almost no abundant natural sources of pure hydrogen, which means that it has to be manufactured. This is an energy intensive process and can produce carbon, which is a problem if we want to decarbonise our heating.
But, it's important to understand that not all hydrogen is created equally, and its impact on the environment will vary depending on how the hydrogen is manufactured. Although there are no universally agreed definitions, different colours are used by the energy industry to describe hydrogen, depending on how it’s made, which you can find in the video below.
Green hydrogen is made using renewables and has no emissions making it far better for the environment than Black or Brown hydrogen, which are made using black coal or lignite.
In order to make hydrogen in a way that's compatible with net zero, we need to be able to capture and store the carbon any carbon arising from the manufacturing process, as well as making sure we use renewable energy to power that process.
Storage for the Future
Hydrogen is a key component of the Government’s plan to reach net zero and they have plans to develop it at scale, meaning significant volumes of hydrogen storage could be needed as soon as the early 2030s.
The Rough reservoir, located offshore in Humberside, has been used to store natural gas safely for over three decades. A repurposed Rough has the potential to provide around half of the UK’s hydrogen storage requirements, putting us on track to meet the government's objectives of decarbonising the UK’s gas supplies, while benefitting communities and creating thousands of local jobs.
Hydrogen | What we're doing to help kickstart the hydrogen economy
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