Number: WG41823. Welsh Government Consultation Document Hydrogen in Wales A pathway and next steps for developing the hydrogen energy sector in Wales Date of issue: 18 January 2021 Action required: Responses by 9 April 2021 Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. This document is also available in Welsh. © Crown Copyright 1 Overview This consultation seeks views on the Welsh Government’s commissioned ‘Hydrogen in Wales’. This document sets out a proposed pathway and next steps for developing the hydrogen energy sector in Wales. How to respond You can respond to this consultation by answering the questions on the form available at www.gov.wales/consultations or through membership of the Welsh Hydrogen Reference Group or HyCymru Hydrogen Trade Association The closing date for the consultation is 9 April 2021. You can reply in any of the following ways: E-mail: Please complete the consultation response form and sent it to: [email protected] Post: Please complete the consultation response form and sent it to the address below: For Attention of Smart Living Climate Change Division Welsh Government Cathays Park Cardiff CF10 3NQ Further information This and the document below is available at and related www.gov.wales/consultations documents ‘Hydrogen development in Wales’ Baselining report into hydrogen activities and expertise in Wales’ Large print, Braille and alternative language versions of this document are available on request. Contact details For Attention of Smart Living Climate Change Division Welsh Government Cathays Park Cardiff CF10 3NQ email: [email protected] Tel: 03000 251474 Also available in Welsh at: www.llyw.cymru/ymgyngoriadau General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) The Welsh Government will be data controller for any personal data you provide as part of your response to the consultation. Welsh Ministers have statutory powers they will rely on to process this personal data which will enable them to make informed decisions about how they exercise their public functions. Any response you send us will be seen in full by Welsh Government staff dealing with the issues which this consultation is about or planning future consultations. Where the Welsh Government undertakes further analysis of consultation responses then this work may be commissioned to be carried out by an accredited third party (e.g. a research organisation or a consultancy company). Any such work will only be undertaken under contract. Welsh Government’s standard terms and conditions for such contracts set out strict requirements for the processing and safekeeping of personal data. In order to show that the consultation was carried out properly, the Welsh Government intends to publish a summary of the responses to this document. We may also publish responses in full. Normally, the name and address (or part of the address) of the person or organisation who sent the response are published with the response. If you do not want your name or address published, please tell us this in writing when you send your response. We will then redact them before publishing. You should also be aware of our responsibilities under Freedom of Information legislation If your details are published as part of the consultation response then these published reports will be retained indefinitely. Any of your data held otherwise by Welsh Government will be kept for no more than three years. Your rights Under the data protection legislation, you have the right: to be informed of the personal data held about you and to access it to require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data to (in certain circumstances) object to or restrict processing for (in certain circumstances) your data to be ‘erased’ to (in certain circumstances) data portability to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is our independent regulator for data protection. For further details about the information The contact details for the Information the Welsh Government holds and its Commissioner’s Office are: use, or if you want to exercise your rights Wycliffe House under the GDPR, please see contact Water Lane details below: Wilmslow Data Protection Officer: Cheshire Welsh Government SK9 5AF Cathays Park CARDIFF Tel: 01625 545 745 or CF10 3NQ 0303 123 1113 Website: https://ico.org.uk/ e-mail: [email protected] Hydrogen in Wales A pathway and next steps for developing the hydrogen energy sector in Wales December 2020 Prepared by Element Energy for Welsh Government FOREWORD The climate emergency demands we use all the tools at our disposal to accelerate progress to a net-zero energy system. We are already actively pursuing greater energy efficiency in our buildings and industries, we have a world-leading approach to recycling and waste management, and last year there was enough electricity generated from renewable sources to meet half Wales’ power needs. We are on track to meet our first Carbon Budget but looking ahead, we will need to do even more. Much of this will be set out in the next Low Carbon Delivery Plan, due to be published in November 2021, and I want to include hydrogen as a vital component of our shift towards the goal of net-zero. Whilst we have effectively banished coal from use for power, we still rely on oil and gas to maintain an affordable and secure energy system. Hydrogen is one of the ways we can shift our reliance away from these fossil fuels and while it is still a developing technology, its unique properties mean it could have a role in Wales’ future power, transport, industrial or heating systems, or more likely a combination of these. Wales needs to be in a position to develop and capture the opportunities offered by hydrogen. For this reason we commissioned Element Energy to baseline where we presently are in Wales with hydrogen-related industries and technologies1 and to provide a vision of a future Wales, where we can take all the opportunities of a more hydrogen-enabled, lower-carbon energy economy. This document illuminates the latter and sets out a possible prospectus of ten short-term objectives which should, if we can work well together, help accelerate Wales down a hydrogen-enabled path. We are seeking your constructive thoughts both on the strategic vision and, particularly from those at the sharp end of either energy use or energy technology developments, on the feasibility of this actions-based hydrogen pathway. Our next Low Carbon Delivery Plan for Wales will need everyone to play their part. I am, therefore, particularly interested in responses which explore which actions are needed, and who needs to take them, to help make the most of this promising technology. Lesley Griffiths AC/AM Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs 1 ‘Hydrogen Development in Wales’ Baselining report into hydrogen activities and expertise in Wales December 2020 Executive Summary Low-carbon hydrogen is increasingly recognised by Governments around the world as having an important role to play in reducing GHG emissions, especially in sectors which are difficult to decarbonise with other solutions. Projections from the Committee on Climate Change and others show a significant increase in low-carbon hydrogen demand by mid-century from existing levels. As part of Covid-19 economic stimulus packages the European Union and several EU Member States have announced significant funding support and ambitious delivery targets for low- carbon hydrogen production. The UK Government has also announced investment and ambitions for hydrogen to be deployed across a range of sectors including transport, industry, power and heating. For example, in November 2020 the Government outlined a Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which included a target to install 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity in the UK by 2030 and up to £500m of funding to support new production facilities and trials of hydrogen for heat. More details are expected as part of the UK Hydrogen Strategy, due to be published in spring 2021. Hydrogen also features as part of the Energy White Paper issued December 2020. In summer 2020 the Welsh Government commissioned Element Energy to study the opportunities for hydrogen across different sectors in Wales. The hydrogen pathway presented in this report builds on the Hydrogen Development in Wales: baselining report, which summarises the current hydrogen initiatives and hydrogen expertise in Wales, aligned with Welsh energy policy ambitions for achieving net zero ambitions. A key aim of the hydrogen pathway is to inform activities that will take place in the short term (to 2025). At the time of writing (December 2020), the role of hydrogen in the energy sector as a whole is uncertain and will depend on national level policy making (e.g. strategy to decarbonise heat) and international developments (e.g. carbon taxation). Focusing on short term actions, whilst starting to plan for larger-scale projects in the mid- to long-term will ensure Wales is well positioned with respect to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. This hydrogen pathway presents ten key objectives, which will help to generate momentum in the Welsh hydrogen sector and lay the foundations for scale-up and commercial deployment from the end of the 2020s. The objectives cover both hydrogen supply and end use, with a focus on short-term opportunities where the commercial case is more developed. In no particular order recommended actions include: 1. Deployment of 200 fuel cell buses in a town / city / region in Wales: fuel cell buses have been trialled across the UK and the technology is ready for deployment in larger fleets, which benefit from economies of scale. This initiative will create a consistent demand for low-carbon hydrogen and help Wales meet its target for all buses to be zero-emission by 2028.