21 December 2020

Scottish Government issues Hydrogen Policy Statement

On 21st December 2020, the Scottish Government issued their Hydrogen Policy Statement.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that hydrogen will play a major role globally in the transition to net zero, and Scotland’s assets, natural, human and physical mean we can be a major player in this emerging global hydrogen market. Combinations of demand reduction, energy efficiency and increasing uptake of electrification can take Scotland a good deal of the way towards our net zero future and the decarbonisation of our whole energy system”

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-hydrogen-policy-statement/

UK Government currently has set a target of 2040 for the withdrawal of ICE’s. The UK government published the following statement in 2019: “Domestic transport (i.e. excluding international aviation and shipping originating or arriving in the UK) was responsible for around 27% of the UK’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. It was the only major sector of the UK energy system to have increasing emissions over the course of the last carbon budget.”

The Committee on Climate Change stated in 2018 that the transport sector was “significantly off-track from the cost- effective path” for meeting the UK’s emissions targets. In this Chapter we, focus on emissions from road transport, and the targets and policies the Government should adopt to help to decarbonise the UK’s road transport system.”

“A ban on the sale of new diesel-powered heavy-goods vehicles will be needed by 2040 in order for the sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This will require policies now that will drive the development of alternative technologies and demonstrate the technical feasibility of such a ban. The Government should introduce a ban on the sale of new diesel-powered heavy goods vehicles, for no later than 2040. It should additionally support trials of low-emissions HGV technologies on a timeframe that aligns with the proposed ban, and work with network operators and the delivery industry to plan for the potential charging infrastructure required for zero-emissions HGVs. Given that some HGVs are already being converted to run on hydrogen on a commercial basis, the Government should review the opportunity for market support mechanisms to drive higher rates of HGV conversion.”

This supports the proposed Hydrogen Production Plant as being a suitable and supported sector in the evolution of alternative zero emission transport fuels; which is being underpinned by the Government.