Government casts doubt on future of hydrogen village trials

The future of hydrogen village trials remains uncertain, with the government hinting that a proposed trial in the North East may now not take place.

It comes just days after energy minister Lord Callanan took to social media to announce the government had rejected Cadent’s bid for a hydrogen village trial in Cheshire because of a lack of local support.

In a further update, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has revealed that the government is yet to make a decision on whether or not a trial will take place at all.

It said: “The government is continuing to develop the proposal for a hydrogen village trial in Redcar, Teesside with Northern Gas Networks (NGN).

“Whitby, Ellesmere Port will no longer be considered as the location for the hydrogen village trial.

“A decision on whether to proceed with the trial in Redcar will be made by the government later this year.”

The hydrogen village trials would see thousands of domestic properties heated with hydrogen.

Following local opposition in Whitby Cadent and its partner British Gas opted to modify the proposals and offer residents the chance to opt out of the trial and stay on natural gas. This would have entailed parallel mains being laid to carry natural gas while the existing one was converted to hydrogen.

Speaking to Utility Week in the wake of the decision to reject Cadent’s proposals Adam Bell, the former head of energy strategy at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said he believed there is a risk that political pressure will result in the government shutting down NGN’s hydrogen village trial.

Bell, head of policy at management consultancy Stonehaven, said: “I think if the level of customer pushback in Redcar becomes as vigorous as it has been in Whitby and if NGN is unable to modify their proposition, in a similar way which Cadent have to create the level of optionality, then there will be political pressure to think about shutting it down.

“Certainly the significant backlash that Whitby saw probably came as a bit of a surprise for politicians involved and bear in mind Redcar is also a red wall seat, the government will not want to go into the election next year with being held responsible by the public for something that they did not want.”

Responding to the government’s decision not to proceed with Whitby a Cadent spokesperson said the news would be “disappointing to the many residents who told us they wanted their community to play a pioneering role in decarbonising how we heat our homes” and expressed gratitude to the community.

The spokesperson added: “Reaching net zero and keeping the UK’s homes and businesses safely and securely supplied with energy needs the whole of society to work together. Should the trial progress in Redcar, it will be an important step forward: NGN have our best wishes and full support.

“This isn’t goodbye from us to the residents of Whitby. Beyond a final decision from government on the project location in the Autumn, we will continue to keep people in the community safe and warm as their gas distribution network. We will also continue to work relentlessly to make sure that our customers have access to options that meet their diverse needs on the journey to net zero.”

An NGN spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with the government on our demonstration of hydrogen for home heating.

“We need to look at a range of energy sources to replace fossil fuels as part of the legal commitment to reach net zero by 2050. Hydrogen can be used in the same way as gas is now and is a low disruption option as we transition to using cleaner energy. It is right that we consider how to repurpose the extensive gas network and infrastructure that already exists, while offering consumers energy choice.

“The government is currently reviewing our project proposal before setting out next steps. We hope to then be able to update customers in Redcar with more detail of the benefits the project will bring to the area, including the creation of new jobs and home upgrades.”