Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Paragraph: 91
The UK Minister told us that the UK Government’s preference is for the private sector...
Recommendation
The UK Minister told us that the UK Government’s preference is for the private sector to lead the development of storage infrastructure. For businesses to lead the way in such a crucial aspect of Scotland and the UK’s net zero and energy security ambitions, a clear set of regulatory conditions and economic incentives will be required to encourage development at the pace needed. Therefore, we recommend that in response to this report the UK Government establish an action plan to identify and address economic and regulatory barriers for hydrogen storage to ensure that, once large-scale hydrogen production becomes possible, appropriate storage is in place.
Government Response Summary
The government published a consultation in August 2022 seeking stakeholder views on barriers to investment in both hydrogen transport and storage, and subsequent design options to help unlock private sector investment, as part of their commitment to design a HSBM by 2025; they will provide a government response by the end of Q2 2023.
Paragraph Reference:
91
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In line with UK Government’s commitment to design a HSBM by 2025, we published a consultation in August 2022 seeking stakeholder views on barriers to investment in both hydrogen transport and storage, and subsequent design options to help unlock private sector investment. We are taking the views of respondents into account as we design the HSBM, to ensure that the model addresses the identified technical and market barriers to investment faced by industry. The consultation also considered the suitability of the non-economic regulatory framework across the hydrogen value chain, including storage. We will continue to use the UK Hydrogen Regulators Forum, and engagement with industry, to identify and address regulatory barriers to storage – in keeping with our Hydrogen Strategy ambitions. We will provide a government response to this consultation by the end of Q2 2023.