‘Hydrogen town’ plan cancelled after protests over forced switch from natural gas

Claire Coutinho has scrapped plans for a pilot “hydrogen town” after a wave of protests against earlier trials.

The Energy Secretary has shelved proposals to force thousands of homes and businesses to replace their natural gas supplies with hydrogen by 2030 to test the fuel’s viability.

Aberdeen, Scunthorpe, and two Welsh towns were among those being considered for wholesale conversion to hydrogen for heating.

It was meant to be a trial run to test the use of low-carbon hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas, which was being considered as part of the UK’s drive to reach net zero by 2050.

However, ministers have been forced into a rethink following a wave of protests in two smaller communities – Redcar in Yorkshire and Whitby, near Ellesmere Port – that had been earmarked as testbed “hydrogen villages”. Both proposed trials were ultimately abandoned.

Energy efficiency minister Lord Martin Callanan said on Thursday: “We have decided not to progress work on a hydrogen town pilot until after 2026 decisions on the role of hydrogen for heating.

“Heat pumps and heat networks will be the main route to cutting household emissions for the foreseeable future.”

The decision undermines the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which was launched by then-PM Boris Johnson in 2020, and its 2021 UK Hydrogen Strategy, published by then-energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

Those plans envisaged a neighbourhood-level hydrogen heating scheme by 2023, a village scale trial by 2025, with an entire town being converted to hydrogen by the late 2020s. None of this will now happen.

Several studies have criticised the plans, saying hydrogen will only have a small role to play in heating homes and other buildings in the future.

Last year, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) recommended the Government should not support the rollout of hydrogen heating.

It said the hydrogen would have to be made with natural gas – a process that generates emissions – and would cost more than heat pumps, the main alternative.

Next week, the NIC’s annual report on the government’s progress with major infrastructure projects is expected to again criticise the use of hydrogen for heating.

Responding to the announcement, Juliet Phillips, from climate policy think tank E3G, said: “Widespread use of hydrogen for heating is an extremely expensive and inefficient way to meet net zero targets, which could exacerbate fuel poverty.

“This decision makes clear that all attention and investment should be focused on readily available clean heat solutions, like heat pumps and heat networks.”

Hydrogen’s value lies in having a high energy density, so it can power anything from homes to heavy vehicles. It also produces no CO2, whereas gas boilers currently account for 22pc of UK greenhouse gas emissions.

There is broad support for the use of the fuel for heavy vehicles, such as lorries and trains, or in heavy industries, for example power stations and cement making. Use for heating is, however, controversial.

A spokesperson for the UK gas distribution networks said: “We welcome the clarity which has been provided on a potential hydrogen heating town.

“We support the need to make use of a range of energy solutions if we are to reach net zero in a fair and affordable way for customers that maintains choice.”