How our region can be at heart of green energy revolution - Jacob Young and Alexander Stafford

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be at the forefront of a zero-carbon industry of the future, and politicians across the North must do what we can to ensure we seize it.

This is why we, as MPs from Redcar and Rother Valley, talk to Ministers about hydrogen at every opportunity to ensure the Government is taking steps to create new, clean jobs of the future.

Hydrogen is a clean, zero-emission energy that only emits water when used. It has been described as the next ‘climate megatrend’ by Barclays and is predicted to provide 24 per cent of the world’s energy, creating 30 million jobs, within the 30 years.

Hydrogen can be produced in a number of ways, but the conversation always comes down to two types:

Blue hydrogen – which is made by removing the carbon from natural gas. This process is known as Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) and the UK is already the most advanced in its technology and development. The Government has already committed £800m into bringing CCUS online within the next five years, and projects such as Net Zero Teesside in Redcar are among the biggest and most ambitious in the world.

Green hydrogen – which is made via electrolysis powered by zero carbon energy such as wind and nuclear. This means the UK, including here in the North, has the ideal natural resources to become a heavyweight in green hydrogen production, and quickly decrease our reliance on importing fossil fuels from other countries.

Countries across the world are moving fast to invest in hydrogen, and whilst the UK Government has announced that it intends to publish its own Hydrogen Strategy in early 2021, we can quickly pull ahead if we make the right moves.

UK plc should steal a march on our competitors by exporting our green technology and knowledge to the rest of the world. By leading the green revolution, we shall create jobs, turbocharge business and rejuvenate our left-behind communities. We must act decisively or risk losing out.

The UK Hydrogen Task Force estimates that investing in hydrogen in the UK could unlock £18bn in GVA by 2035 and support 75,000 additional jobs. Much of this economic growth could and should come to the North. Teesside already produces 50 per cent of the UK’s hydrogen, and has been declared the home of the UK’s first Hydrogen Transport Hub, with plans for large numbers of hydrogen cars, trains, buses and trucks onto local roads within the next few years.

In Rother Valley we are supporting the opening of a hydrogen electrolyser factor so that we can be one of the powerhouses for the production and use of green hydrogen; supplying cities like Leeds and Sheffield in order to achieve their ambitious decarbonisation targets.

Already, nationwide there is £3bn of ‘shovel-ready’ private investment for UK hydrogen projects. To unlock this, the Government should set out ambitious, but achievable, short-term targets, such as having 4,000 hydrogen buses, 50 hydrogen trains, fleets of hydrogen bin lorries, police cars, ambulances, and taxis, the launch of hydrogen ships and aeroplanes. The South Korean government has set a target of introducing 200,000 hydrogen vehicles and 450 hydrogen refuelling stations by 2025 – we should seek to match this scale of ambition.

Some 85 per cent of homes in the UK are currently on the gas network and domestic heating is seen as one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. The HyDeploy project at Keele University is demonstrating we can blend up to 20 per cent hydrogen into the gas network no without affecting the way people heat their homes. However, we believe the Government should legislate for the introduction of hydrogen-ready boilers by 2025.

We want Yorkshire and Teesside to transform from centres of dirty fossil fuels to hubs of green renewable energy. Our areas have the industrial heritage, the expertise and the desire; we just need to be given a chance and we are sure this Government will provide it.

Jacob Young is MP for Redcar and Alexander Stafford represents Rother Valley.

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