‘Hydrogen town’ plan cancelled after protests

CLAIRE COUTINHO has scrapped plans for a pilot “hydrogen town” after a wave of protests against earlier trials.

The Energy Secretary has shelved proposals to force thousands of homes and businesses to replace their natural gas supplies with hydrogen by 2030 to test the fuel’s viability.

Aberdeen, Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire and two Welsh towns were among those being considered for wholesale conversion to hydrogen for heating.

It was meant to be a trial run to test the use of low-carbon hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas, which was being considered as part of the UK’S drive to reach net zero by 2050.

However, ministers have been forced into a rethink after a wave of protests in two smaller communities – Redcar in Yorkshire and Whitby, near Ellesmere Port – that had been earmarked as testbed “hydrogen villages”. Both proposed trials were ultimately abandoned.

Energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan said yesterday: “We have decided not to progress work on a hydrogen town pilot until after 2026 decisions on the role of hydrogen for heating. Heat pumps and networks will be the main route to cutting household emissions for the foreseeable future.”

Several studies have criticised the plans, saying hydrogen will have only a small role to play in heating homes and other buildings.

Juliet Phillips, from climate policy think tank E3G, said: “Widespread use of hydrogen for heating is an extremely expensive and inefficient way to meet net zero targets, which could exacerbate fuel poverty. This decision makes clear that all attention and investment should be focused on readily available clean heat solutions, like heat pumps and heat networks.”