In its latest hydrogen whitepaper, Westwood Global Energy, an energy market research and consultancy firm, warns that lack of certainty in government policy could hinder the progress of projects in the UK’s hydrogen pipeline.
Westwood’s Hydrogen Scale-up white paper , which explores the key factors priming hydrogen for success in the UK, highlights 45 projects in the country with 17 GW of capacity projected to come online by 2030.
However, the research points out that only a small number of demonstration-sized green hydrogen projects have reached final investment decision (FID) so far. Furthermore, it underlines that strong, streamlined and timely government policies will be key to the hydrogen industry’s success.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one year ago, the UK government doubled its original 5 GW low-carbon hydrogen production and took a two-pronged approach supporting both blue and green hydrogen.
Westwood’s analysis shows that blue hydrogen currently accounts for the lion’s share of announced capacity (14.3 GW out of 17 GW), and traditional oil and gas players are leading the way.
Shell stands out as the largest participant in the development of blue hydrogen projects in the UK, involved in three projects that will develop 3.3 GW.
Vertex Hydrogen, a joint venture between Essar and Progressive Energy, is developing 3.3 GW through Hynet while Equinor’s two projects will add another 1.8 GW.