We welcome the
Government's announcement this week, detailing the package of measures that will enable the UK to go further and faster to tackle climate change.
We are especially encouraged by the news of the UK’s first Transport Decarbonisation Plan, aimed at reducing emissions from the transport sector.
At Cadent, we are already supporting decarbonisation of transport by connecting bioCNG (biomethane) refuelling facilities to our gas network. In addition to reducing emissions from large UK fleet operators, we are converting our logistics fleet to operate on bioCNG, achieving CO2e savings of more than 80%.
Beyond this, our Gas Network Innovation Programme is exploring the viability of distributing hydrogen as a low cost and low carbon transport fuel using the gas network, with a strong emphasis on the reliability of supply, flexibility and achieving the required hydrogen purity standards.
Our recent
HyMotion study suggests that mobility-grade hydrogen can be delivered through a hydrogen network at 40 – 70% lower cost than for all electrolysis, emphasising the significance of grid-supplied hydrogen.
It is important to recognise the advantages of both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in achieving the UK's net-zero target. Hydrogen offers significant advantages in 'hard to decarbonise' transport sectors like HGVs, rail and marine.
Whilst hydrogen variants are being developed for different vehicle types such as cars, buses, and more recently trains, demonstration and use of hydrogen in HGV fleets remains a challenge. We therefore welcome the news of additional funding to support the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies which we hope will enable early demonstration of hydrogen HGVs.
Such demonstrations will help to leverage the first tranche of hydrogen clusters and will provide the essential evidence required to encourage wider adoption. Government will continue to play a key role in incentivising the decarbonisation of this sector and so this week’s announcement provides a significant and timely boost for the sector.
We are committed to playing our part in the delivery of whole system decarbonisation and the achievement of net-zero aims. With an increasingly low carbon, futureproofed gas network, we can help to supply heavy duty transport fleet requirements, and to fuel the flexible electricity generation needed to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure.