Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the merits of using the current gas grid to transport hydrogen.

Using the gas grid to transport hydrogen is one of a number of potential approaches to decarbonise how we heat our homes, businesses and industry in order to meet our 2050 emissions reduction targets. As outlined in the Clean Growth Strategy, approaches with potential include decarbonising the gas grid using hydrogen or biogas, increased use of heat networks and electrification of heating. At present, it is not clear which approaches will work best at scale. The Department is carrying out work to consolidate and improve the evidence base on different approaches and plans to publish a report on this work in summer 2018.

Last year, the Department commenced a £25m innovation project to explore the potential use of hydrogen in UK homes and businesses, including through development and testing of hydrogen appliances. Also last year, Ofgem awarded £8.9m to the gas distribution networks, under the Network Innovation Competition, to provide evidence on the suitability and safety of using existing distribution infrastructure to transport hydrogen.