Lord Howell of Guildford
Main Page: Lord Howell of Guildford (Conservative - Life peer)Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industry
Lord Howell of Guildford Excerpts(1 day, 7 hours ago)
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Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I congratulate Scotland on qualifying for the World Cup, and there were some really good goals last night. It was really sad to hear that news about the plant at Mossmorran, which produces ethylene for export, employing 179 people. The Minister has spoken to the chair of the company and the unions, and the Government stand ready to provide support through the DWP rapid response service. The plant is 40 years old, has been loss-making for five years, and would take £1 billion of investment to turn around. This is a commercial decision by the company. The chair of ExxonMobil has confirmed to the Minister that he was not suggesting that the closure was due to a lack of action by the Government. The Government will do all we can to help those who are in difficulty.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, is there not one more hydrogen potential that the Minister has not mentioned? In transporting electricity, or transporting hydrogen, the prospect can be raised of avoiding having to cover the whole country with thousands more electricity pylons, as NESO is currently predicting. I agree that that means lower costs for hydrogen, but better lower costs and transport than paying huge sums of money to owners of wind farms not to produce electricity at night at all.
Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for his question, which raises a very important issue. It is fair to say that hydrogen cannot provide all the answers to issues around energy provision, but it can reach those hard-to-reach businesses such as steel and chemicals, for example. We need to set up a system in which we can do that. The Government are investing in that; we are spending tens of millions of pounds on doing just that. It is something that we want to see grow into the future. As I have said, by 2050 it will be a $1 trillion industry, and the UK has to be part of it.