Hydrogen Sector

Lord Oates Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I cannot answer that question in specific terms. All I can say is that the money being invested in apprenticeship programmes across industry will help to develop that. If I can get some further information for the noble Baroness, I will write to her with more details.

[Lord Oates (LD)]

Does the Minister recognise that leaving it to the market alone to choose between blue and green hydrogen will not deliver the step change in production that is required? Will the Government now set a specific target for the UK’s green hydrogen capacity by 2030, as many countries across the world have already done, in order to stimulate private sector investment, drive down costs and deliver on the Government’s overall net-zero target?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I think I have answered the bit of the noble Lord’s question about what we are doing to stimulate private investment. The Government are reluctant to set targets for the split between blue and green hydrogen, in case that limits the investment in either side; we need both in order to reach zero carbon. The 10-point plan has set out a clear ambition for new low-carbon hydrogen and the UK is ideally placed to bring forward both blue and green hydrogen production methods to grow a strong, resilient UK hydrogen economy. This twin-track approach will enable production to be brought forward at the necessary scale during the 2020s. The noble Lord will be aware of the Gas Goes Green initiative, which will promote and advance the use of green gases such as hydrogen and biomethane in the gas grid.