UK proposed Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator

As part of its £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, the UK's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has proposed an Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator competition to support projects relating to end-to-end industrial fuel switching to hydrogen, including integrated hydrogen generation, infrastructure, and end-use.

Funding would be used to support feasibility studies focusing on whether such end-to-end industrial hydrogen systems are feasible, both practically and economically.

There will be two main streams with slightly different aims and funding requirements. Stream 1 is for more advanced projects, whereas Stream 2 is for projects at an earlier stage of development. Both streams aim to be open in April 2022.

Stream 1 is for demonstration projects. Applicants will need to provide match funding and to have a project size of around 1-10 MW.

Stream 2 is for projects which require an initial feasibility study (Stream 2A), winners of which can then apply for a demonstration grant under Stream 2B. Stream 2A does not require match funding, and winners will then be eligible to bid for a demonstration grant under Stream 2B, but will require match funding.

Evidence from this project will be used to inform on the role of hydrogen as a replacement of natural gas in the gas grid.

An online engagement session is being held on 8 March 2022. An expression of interest form is also available. 

Hydrogen will likely form one part of the overall scheme to reduce the UK's overall carbon emissions and so it is great to see that the government is encouraging innovation in this area. It will be interesting to see what the results of the studies are and the kind of firms which take part.