Lord Martin Callanan, energy security minister, announced in a tweet on Monday that the trial had “no strong local support” and would be scrapped.
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| Campaigners against the hydrogen-for-homes scheme in Whitby, Merseyside. Photo from HyNot facebook feed |
The decision follows months of campaigning by Whitby residents, who feared that the HyNet scheme to convert the gas grid to hydrogen would bring a greater risk of explosions, nitrous oxide emissions and uncertainty.
They were strongly supported by the HyNot campaign group – and by energy systems researchers who oppose hydrogen for home heating. They point out that a combination of insulation and electric heat pumps is four or five times more energy-efficient than hydrogen, and effectively reduces fossil fuel use.
Jan Rosenow of the Regulatory Assistance Project and Tom Baxter of Strathclyde University, who are among the many specialists who have lambasted the government’s approach, spoke at a virtual public meeting in Whitby called by residents in November last year.
The government’s plan has obstructed the use of tried, tested and truly carbon-free technologies, such as heat pumps, for the sake of a survival strategy for oil and gas companies.
The HyNet pilot scheme proposed for Whitby by Cadent, the gas distribution company, would have used “blue” hydrogen, extracted from gas. The process produces carbon dioxide, which would then have to be buried, using another expensive technology that has yet to be made to work at scale, carbon capture and storage.
Northern Gas Networks, which has received millions of pounds in government subsidies for its hydrogen-for-heating plans, will now try to press ahead with a pilot scheme in Redcar, Yorkshire. But local opposition is building, and a petition demanding a public debate has been signed by more people than have indicated acceptance of the scheme in a company survey.
Despite the gas companies’ strident lobbying efforts, government support for the scheme appears to be cracking. Hydrogen for heating and cooking is “unlikely to be the way forward”, energy minister Grant Shapps admitted last month – exactly what researchers and campaigners have been bellowing at the government for years.
Shapps also announced that a government plan to add a levy for hydrogen development to household energy bills is to be scrapped.
Cadent’s campaign on Merseyside initially seemed formidable, but it was no match for “the indomitable power of the people”, Kate Grannell, a local resident and supporter of the HyNot campaign group, said in an interview with Hydrogen Insight.
History has shown that when individuals unite against falsehood, manipulation and deceit, their collective strength can bring down even the most cunning schemes. The government, Cheshire West Council, Cadent and British Gas have all promoted and lobbied an unethical greenwashing campaign that has manipulated, misled and deceived our community – and are now facing the consequences. Let’s hope they all learn to listen to the public.
A facebook message from HyNot said: “A whopping well done to the wonderful #WhitbyHydrogenVillage residents who protested, resisted and refused to allow their homes and community to be railroaded into Cadent’s harebrained #HomeHydrogen experiment. Watch out Northern Gas Networks, #RedcarHydrogenVillage will be next.” SP, 12 July 2023.
🔴Blue hydrogen: how can workers and the union movement take action? – slides from my presentation at the We Make Tomorrow conference in Manchester, 20 May 2023
🔴Communities question hydrogen hype (People & Nature, December 2022), with links to more information on hydrogen
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