Decarbonising heat in homes

Having spent time talking to the BEIS Select Committee about the decarbonisation of heat and the role of hydrogen, I was really looking forward to reading their recommendations.

Over the last few years our industry (guided by BEIS and successive government policies on achieving Net Zero) has been engaged in a huge programme of activity – we’ve been exploring the conversion of the gas network to accommodate 100% hydrogen, our ability to blend hydrogen into the existing network, all the way through to the development of hydrogen-ready appliances and how these can be delivered in a seamless way for people to warm their homes.

The BEIS report started well. It talks about the range of different technologies we need, heat pumps, hydrogen and heat networks. The section on heat pumps is robust, there is no doubt more to be done to support the development of the heat pump market, supply chain and skills to ensure they are deliverable and costs to ensure they are palatable for consumers, and we are very supportive of this. After all we need a range of different technologies to deliver the decarbonisation of heat. However, the report says nothing at all about hydrogen. Which was a shock.

It’s shocking, because whilst there are other near term options for heating, it is incontrovertible that hydrogen is likely to play some role. The Climate Change Committee’s own pathways uses hydrogen as the ‘check and balance’ to support the hard to decarbonise buildings and provide seasonal resilience in hybrids and larger heating schemes because as we know delivering peak heat on windless days will be a challenge. The CCC talk about hydrogen-ready boilers and readying the gas networks in regions with close proximity to hydrogen sources. Our own research also tells us that some consumers might prefer a similar gas-based heating system to today especially those in buildings where alternatives and retrofits are expensive and disruptive. Similar things are said in the government’s own Hydrogen Strategy and Heat and Buildings Strategy. For hydrogen to be completely absent is therefore perplexing, as we know steps do need to be taken to scale hydrogen production now and plan for roll out as and when it might be needed.

We’ll continue to support Government with our experience and thoughts on how a resilient energy system and low carbon heat can be affordably delivered, and we’ll look forward to further committee reviews on the development of hydrogen.