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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop the UK gas network and appliances connected to it so that they are able to receive a supply of 100 per cent hydrogen.

Replacing natural gas in the gas grid with hydrogen may be an option which could contribute to decarbonising heat, along with other options including heat networks, electric heat pumps and biogas. The Government’s December 2018 report on Clean Growth: Transforming Heating concluded that there is currently no clear consensus on the best approach to decarbonising heat at scale and that further work is required on the 100 per cent hydrogen option to prove the safety and feasibility case and to better understand the costs and benefits.

BEIS is currently working with industry organisations and other stakeholders to ensure that all the R&D, testing and trialling work required to achieve this has been identified.

The Government is also currently investing in a range of innovation programmes to explore and develop the potential of low carbon hydrogen for end use sectors. This includes:

o Up to £20m to test the potential for switching to hydrogen (and other low carbon fuels) across a range of industrial sectors,

o Hy4Heat – a £25m hydrogen for heat innovation programme with the aim of establishing if it is technically possible and safe to replace methane with hydrogen in residential and commercial buildings and gas appliances,

o £23m to support deployment of hydrogen vehicles and growth of refuelling infrastructure.