The Green Hydrogen Alliance (GHA) aims to ensure that the UK remains globally competitive in the development and deployment of what it believes is one of the most promising technologies for enabling decarbonisation.
The GHA brings together businesses across the entire hydrogen supply chain, including Airbus, Air Products, Associated British Ports, London City Airport and Tata Steel as well as an advisory board including Cranfield University and the Thames Estuary Growth Board.
Green, or electrolytic, hydrogen is produced using electricity generated by renewable sources such as wind and solar farms. The government has set a target of up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, subject to affordability and value for money, with at least half of this coming from electrolytic hydrogen.
The Alliance said it welcomes the government’s targets for green hydrogen and says that accelerating policy will help ensure that the UK does not fall behind overseas competitors such as Germany and the Netherlands, both of which have set out strategies to drive a more rapid development towards their own green hydrogen economies.
A spokesperson for the Green Hydrogen Alliance said: “We welcome the government’s ambitious target of 5GW of electrolytic hydrogen production by 2030, but we must move further and faster on policy if we are to unlock the benefits green hydrogen will bring.”
The Alliance says that green hydrogen can play a key role in the UK’s transition to net zero, and shows considerable promise in sectors such as heavy industry or transport, where carbon emissions are harder to abate through electrification or other technologies.
As well as looking in-depth at the commercial viability of green hydrogen across a number of leading UK sectors, the Green Hydrogen Alliance will analyse the economic impact that the development of green hydrogen uses could have on specific areas of the country, from Wales to the Humber, through to the Thames Estuary.
The GHA will undertake new analysis assessing where the barriers are to the UK becoming a genuine global leader in a technology that could help meet carbon reduction targets, increase energy security and create thousands of new renewable energy jobs across the country.
The Alliance is apolitical and says it will work with both the government and all political parties, as well as civil service officials and industry groups,to help them understand the opportunities of a burgeoning green hydrogen industry.
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