Hydrogen in Westminster

In January I headed down to the Houses of Parliament to hear a panel discussion on the use of hydrogen and fuel cells. It was really interesting to see how the discussion was run and who was attending. I found that there was a general feeling of agreement that hydrogen and fuel cells were a good idea - obviously I agree with this point of view but the lack of opposition arguments was quite interesting in itself! 

I also left feeling pretty smug, as I knew at least half of the attendees, by sight at least if not by name, and this gave me encouragement that my feeble attempts at networking were starting to pay off.

I wrote up a report for the Energy CDT Network that I've posted below. Apologies, as it's not great to read, but I'm heading off to another similar event on Tuesday and I'll provide a more readable report from that...

Panel discussion

The discussion was opened by Peter Aldous, MP, chair of the all party parliamentary group for intelligent energy, who talked about how the UK needs to aim to maximise its contribution to the new energy market and not remain focussed on just one technology. He then passed over to the chair of the panel discussion, Noel Botha from Orion innovations. Mr Botha gave a brief introduction to fuel cells and the growth of the market before posing a series of questions to the panellists, starting with asking where hydrogen could fit in to a renewable energy system.

Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM power, began by giving his view that hydrogen acting a grid storage method will allow the incorporation of renewable energy into the electricity network. This storage addition will allow the use of more renewable sources and will require the partnership of the electricity grid and the transport infrastructure. Another benefit of using hydrogen is that it can be produced from a range of sources, including natural gas. He added that this meant that the introduction of cheap shale gas would only decrease the price of hydrogen as reforming gas to hydrogen and using it in a fuel cell increases the overall efficiency when compared to direct combustion of natural gas.

Ian Williamson, CEO of AFC energy, answered Mr Botha’s second question about the motivation for focussing on fuel cell technology rather than combustion: the greater efficiency of a fuel cell in comparison to a gas turbine remains on scaling up the technology. He added that some fuel cells can be used to an even higher efficiency by utilising not only the electrical energy, but also the heat given off in a combined heat and power system.

Alastair Rennie, deputy chair of the UKHFCA and the project director of AMEC, made the case for using carbon capture and storage to aid the introduction of hydrogen into the energy system. Integrated gasification and CCS produces cheap hydrogen and removes the CO₂ before distribution. This allows large scale use of hydrogen for transport and heat, not just electricity: acting as a universal energy vector. The diversity of sources of hydrogen leads to guaranteed supply, reassuring for industry.

Dennis Hayter, chair of the UKHFCA and vice president of business development of Intelligent Energy, answered a question posed about the introduction of fuel cell vehicles. He acknowledged the challenge of decarbonisation of transport, and added that the main benefit of hydrogen vehicles over electric vehicles is the extended range: a point re-enforced by Graham Cooley, who added that this additional range leads to a reduction in the amount of infrastructure needed.

The discussion then moved on the role of the UK and whether it could be a world leader in the technology or whether it would rely on expensive imports. Ian Williamson quoted the large growth of the UK industry to show the potential, and said that the large number of UK companies could learn from other countries to become world leaders. In addition to this, he emphasised the need to find people close to the point of production to buy fuel cells, reducing transportation costs. Graham Cooley’s view was that there needs to be an emphasis on ‘buying British’ and that long term policy needs to be made so that investors can be confident. Alastair Rennie believes that a simple feed in tariff across all sectors will enable consistency. Dennis Hayter's view was that the UK has the capability and leadership but that it doesn't realise it yet.

The discussion was then opened to the floor, with questions to the panellists about the timescale of application of the technology, how the cost of hydrogen compares with other technologies and the role of local government. The panellists responded by stressing the need for long term policy, potentially starting with a 10 year period after which any feed in tariffs can be adjusted. Graham Cooley stressed that hydrogen is already the lowest cost option for long term energy storage. All the panellists agreed on the need for alliances between the hydrogen industry and local councils.

The final question from the floor was whether the UK had enough resources to invest in a range of hydrogen technologies, or whether it would be best for the UK to become a world leader in just one. Graham Cooley pointed out that the UK does not like picking winners, but instead relies on the free market and that there was a need for technical people in decision making positions. Alastair Rennie disagreed, saying that a responsible industry should be able to keep politicians informed, but that that the UK drive was always for the cheapest technology.

The discussion was closed by Dennis Hayter, who again stressed the importance of timescale, focussing on the 5-7 year cycle of the automotive industry, but that the technology was ready to be extended to manufacturing scale.