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The government has appointed Jane Toogood as the UK’s first Hydrogen Champion, as it welcomes funding applications for fledgling green hydrogen projects.
Toogood is already co-chair of the joint government and industry body, the Hydrogen Advisory Council, as well as being chief executive of catalyst technologies at hydrogen specialist Johnson Matthey.
In her new role she will be tasked with identifying barriers to building a hydrogen economy and finding creative solutions to these.
She said: “Hydrogen deployment as a clean energy source is one of the key solutions to help the UK reach its net zero targets and I strongly believe there is an opportunity to accelerate this, working collaboratively across industry and government to land projects and infrastructure on a timeline that serves stakeholder and customers’ needs.”
Alongside Toogood’s appointment, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has also released a raft of documents on hydrogen production, including guidance on the first Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) and Hydrogen Business Model (HBM) joint allocation round. A total of £340 million of funding is available across the two schemes between now and 2025. The aim is to support the production of up to 250MW of low-carbon hydrogen in the first allocation round, to support the government’s target of developing 5GW of low carbon hydrogen generation by 2030.
An action plan has also been released aimed at developing the UK hydrogen sector, as well as an update on the Hydrogen Strategy.
Energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK’s hydrogen sector is open for business. With the right investment, we can unlock the enormous potential of hydrogen by reindustrialising our economy and ending our dependency on expensive fossil fuels.
“The new funding represents an important step forward in realising this potential, and I look forward to working with Jane Toogood as our new Hydrogen Champion, ensuring industry and government are aligned to accelerate hydrogen production as a clean, home grown energy source – boosting our energy security and creating jobs.”
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