The future of hydrogen in the UK market and potential overlapping synergies with the EU
On May 11th and 12th 2022, European Union (EU) specialist, Aumar Mustafa, attended a two-day conference in Glasgow: All-Energy & DCarbonise 2022. The event has offered new insights into the future of hydrogen and how it will play out in both the UK and EU market. This article takes a closer look at those insights and the current state-of-play.
Scaling hydrogen: supply and demand constraints
At the event, there were a range of talks covering topics such as deployment and scale, innovation, storage and transition to net zero. However, common themes that kept appearing in these discussions were the current supply and demand constraints and issues hampering hydrogen utilisation across the UK and EU:
- Changing the perception of customer attitudes: is hydrogen safe for homes and can it be used as an alternative fuel source to EV/petrol/diesel?
- Gas to Power (G2P) not pushed on a governmental level as well as not enough public investment: £ 1.7 billion being spent on new nuclear technologies versus £ 240 million for hydrogen.
- If the UK is going to realise its Net Zero 2050 ambitions, more proactivity needs to occur as well as more direct conversation between suppliers and end-users.
- 24/7 supply and scalability: current output is limiting the scale up opportunities of the UK market.
What our specialists think?
Hydrogen roll-out cannot exist without increasing the availability of hydrogen. To achieve true scalability, a blending of finance from both private and public sources can help achieve economies of scale and sufficient roll-out in line with the UK’s Strategy Net Zero climate ambitions.
How Hezelburcht can help you navigate this uncertainty
With a proven track record involving several European hydrogen funds, Hezelburcht can help you gain the funding you need to bridge the gap between supply and demand of clients and end-users. Our specialists have worked on several flagship EU grants including Innovation Fund (Large-Scale and Small Scale), Connecting European Facility – Energy and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst amongst others. Are you in need of advice? Then please do not hesitate to contact us.
In need of advice? Contact us
Or call us directly: 088 495 20 00
Towards Net Zero energy systems: Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) (UK)
The Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) is a funding mechanism for the Electricity System Operator, Electricity Transmission, Gas Transmission and Gas Distribution sectors within the UK. The SIF aims to find and fund ambitious, innovative projects with the potential to accelerate the transition to net zero. These projects should help shape the future of the gas and electricity networks and succeed commercially where possible. The fund is expected to invest £ 450 million in energy network innovations from 2022-2027, with the option to extend and increase as necessary.
Why this programme?
The SIF is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Their objective for the SIF is to help transform the UK into the ‘Silicon Valley’ of energy, making the UK the best place for high potential businesses to grow and scale in the energy market.
Using Innovate UK’s expertise and extensive business and academic networks, the SIF programme will tap into the best of UK and international innovation whilst also aligning with other public innovation funding, delivering measurable benefits to network users and consumers.
Innovation Challenge areas
Working with stakeholders, the SIF have identified four Innovation Challenge areas. These are:
- Whole system integration
- Data and digitalisation
- Heat
- Zero emission transport
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst (UK)
At the 2021 Global Investment Summit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Bill Gates, the founder of Breakthrough Energy, announced a new partnership to mobilize public and private funding in emerging climate technology projects located in the UK. The UK-Catalyst Partnership expects to mobilize up to £ 400 million between 2022 and 2027 to drive investment into the next generation of emerging climate technologies that will help meet UK’s net zero target by 2050 and decrease the cost of decarbonization.
To operationalize this collaboration, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst (Catalyst) has launched an Request For Proposal (RFP) to identify and select emerging climate technology projects based in the UK for project-level financing.
Overview and Scope
Catalyst invites responses from projects located in the United Kingdom across the following four technology sectors:
- Clean hydrogen
- Direct air capture
- Long duration energy storage
- Sustainable aviation fuel
More information on funding opportunities for hydrogen technologies?
Are you active in dealing with an upcoming Strategic Innovation Fund and/or Breakthrough Energy Catalyst UK application and interested in applying for future EU/UK calls? Feel free to contact specialist Aumar Mustafa directly at a.mustafa@hezelburcht.com. You can also contact us by filling out the form below or calling us at 088 495 20 00.
