That’s according to a new report released today (Oct 28) by Cornwall Insight, which states that, to meet such demands, a £23m infrastructure investment comprising of 8.5GW electrolyser and 15.4GW offshore wind capacity would be required.

Further to that, the paper, titled Industrial decarbonisation key for UK low carbon hydrogen, predicts the highest demands to come from high-temperature industrial processes that will substitute natural gas and other fossil fuels with hydrogen.

Deva Devaraj, Modelling Analyst at Cornwall Insight, said, “UK industry, while contributing £331bn towards GDP (17%), also accounts for 18% of carbon emissions, which can be reduced via multiple decarbonisation pathways.

“For example, industrial processes using fossil-based electricity and heat generation can be switched to renewable sources, and processes requiring fossil fuels for heat generation can also be electrified. However, there is a substantial role for hydrogen in industrial decarbonisation.

“Hydrogen is versatile; it can be used as a feedstock, reducing agent, and to generate heat. Using low carbon hydrogen in industries would be a catalyst to scale up its production and lead to hydrogen technology adoption in other end-use sectors.”

Focusing on the “type” of hydrogen, often defined by colours, the paper also states that low carbon hydrogen should be adopted in applications with maximum emission reduction potential to maximise the decarbonisation potential.

To do this, the paper states that the journey needs to begin by replacing fossil hydrogen with low carbon hydrogen as a chemical feedstock, followed by sustainable hydrogen-based processes in other industries.

Devaraj, continued, “It should be noted that the low carbon hydrogen intake would be dictated by the rate of decarbonisation and their production capacity. Therefore, even though chemical manufacturers account for less than 1% of the total hydrogen demand, they are definitive off-takers with very little variability.

“The industrial heat process exhibits the greatest hydrogen demand potential (98%); it is greatly influenced by the penetration rate of low carbon hydrogen, thereby subjected to high variability.”