Government: No one should wait for hydrogen heating

By Rob Horgan

The government has told the public not to bank on the prospect of hydrogen for home heating.

While recommitting to carrying out hydrogen heating trials, the government has said that heat pumps and heat networks “will be the primary means of decarbonisation for the foreseeable future”, in its official response to the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) annual report.

The response adds that “no one should hold back on installing a heat pump or connecting to a heat network on the basis that hydrogen may become an option later”.

It comes in response to the CCC’s recommendation to “publicly narrow” the potential role of hydrogen, the value of which the CCC says “lies in helping to cope with peak energy demand on the coldest days and in decarbonising those buildings for which there are no other viable solutions”.

The CCC recommendation report – published in June – adds that the government should instead assume that the use of hydrogen is “limited at most to a back-up role in hybrid heat pump systems and only in limited areas of the country”.

In response, the government states: “Heat pumps and heat networks are established technologies that will be the primary means for decarbonising heating over the next decade and play a key role in all 2050 scenarios. Annual deployment of heat pumps will potentially need to reach up to 1.6 million installations by 2035.

“Against that background, government is clear that:

“1. Anyone wanting to install a heat pump should do so, irrespective of location. No one should hold back on installing a heat pump or connecting to a heat network on the basis that hydrogen may become an option later.

“2. Given heat pumps will play a prominent role in all scenarios, existing heating engineers should consider training to install heat pumps. Installers can access support to do so as part of the Heat Training Grant.

“3. There are some properties for which hydrogen heating will never be a realistic option, in particular those not on the existing gas grid. Furthermore, the Future Homes Standard (FHS) will ensure that from 2025 new homes are built with low carbon heating and we expect heat pumps will become the primary heating technologies for new homes under the FHS, with heat networks also playing a role.”

While the government is clear that heat pumps and heat networks will be the primary means of decarbonisation for the foreseeable future, it still believes that “there is the potential for hydrogen to play a role in slower time in some locations”.

The government has therefore confirmed that it will “continue its programme of hydrogen heating trials and wider research to assess feasibility”. It has also said that it is “continuing to support” development of the Redcar village trial, however gives no timeline for when it will make a final decision on the proposal.

It adds that final decisions on hydrogen heating will still be taken in 2026 as previously planned, “but we will accelerate work to analyse the costs and benefits of heat pathways”. Once established, the government response adds that it will request the Future Systems Operator to advise government “on the energy system impacts of heat decarbonisation pathways, including how best to manage a highly electrified system”.

The response comes just a week after the National Infrastructure Commission urged the government to rule out hydrogen for home heating.

It also comes in the same week that the government increased the maximum value of a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant to £7,500 for both air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps.

Previously the maximum grant for an air source heat pump was capped at £5,000 while grants of £6,000 were available for ground source heat pumps.

Other commitments made in the government’s CCC response include: