At the end of March 2025, GB Energy rolled into action to invest £200M in Solar installations on 200 schools (£80M) and 200 NHS sites (£100M) that include some hospitals. The first installations will be late summer 2025. Two sad numbers: NHS energy bill is £1.4bn, twice the bill in 2019, so it is evident that the Grid and big 6 are profiteering here; second, the idea is that excess solar power can be sold to the Grid, but we know they do not pay a fair price; usually their buying price is about 6 times less than the selling price. Ripoff. Ed Milliband, Energy Secretary is correct in saying  “Right now, money that should be spent on your children’s education or your family’s healthcare is instead being wasted on sky-high energy bills. “Great British Energy’s first major project will be to help our vital public institutions save hundreds of millions on bills to reinvest on the frontline. Great British Energy will provide power for pupils and patients. “Parents at the school gate and patients in hospitals will experience the difference Great British Energy can make. This is our clean energy superpower mission in action, with lower bills and energy security for our country.” What is not clarified is the pay-back time on these investments. The serious problem with solar in UK is that it can take more than a decade to pay-off the costs. That does not impress most investors. The calculations should be published. The Chair Juergen Maier needs to step up. Will the solar panels be made in Britain? UK is slow on Solar mainly because the £200M will only buy about 200MW of peak power, which needs to be realistically reworded to give 40MW of average power, a thousand times less than the 40GW of average power that is really needed across UK. But, at least, a move has been made, however unsatisfactory it is.

Matt Lister in DrivingHydrogen Newsletter has today revealed the big new project proposed to create £6.5bn of hydrogen production, creating 24,300 jobs. The objective is 1GW of green hydrogen by 2030, 10% of what Boris promised many years ago. A new energy grouping led by HydraB Power, chaired by Jo Bamford of Wrightbus and Ryze fame, joining with Centrica, JCB, ITM Power, Johnson Matthey, Heidelberg Materials, National Gas. With £6.5bn of private investment already committed, the coalition says, and a strategy rooted in hard-nosed industrial pragmatism. At its heart is a plan to reduce the cost of green hydrogen by buying equipment in bulk, securing power on better terms, and building with at least 50% UK content. In doing so, HySpeed hopes to anchor 24,300 jobs across sectors like electrolyser • Electrolysers, 2,025 • Upstream Power, 9,290 • Compressors, 155 • HRS (Hydrogen Refuelling Stations), 600 • Bowsers, 1,725 • Tube Trailers, 1,625 • Buses, 5,380 • Coaches, 490 • Fuel Cells, 1,080 • NRMMs (Machinery), 430 • Green Chemicals, 1,640 This is the best news we have heard for some time, far better than DESNZ announcements. Sign up for our free newsletter Keep up-to-date with the latest hydrogen news straight to your inbox

Joey Stoate on 24 March has just outlined the new Hydrogen bus tests to begin soon at Sizewell C. 3 Hydrogen double deckers plus one single deck bus will start the experiment delivering workers to and from the big construction site. Sizewell said' We’re delighted to see this trial underway. Like Sizewell C, at Wrightbus we’re striving a zero-emission future. Wrightbus created the world’s first hydrogen double deck bus and is incredibly proud of the groundbreaking work it has done in the decarbonisation of the transport sector.We are unwavering in our commitment to hydrogen being part of the energy transition. We have an army of operators across the UK and Europe who realise that hydrogen meets their demands better than electricity. Indeed, for some rural routes electric buses are simply unable to cope. We always said hydrogen was for big and heavy machines and these buses are a perfect example of this in practice. All of our hydrogen buses are manufactured right here in the UK, creating thousands of skilled green jobs at our factory and thousands more across the supply chain, which means every bus purchased is a huge boost to the UK manufacturing sector.' Ryze is delvering the hydrogen for refuelling and said' At Ryze Power, we’re already involved in a number of successful hydrogen trials across transport, construction and aviation. Hydrogen is a safe, zero-emission fuel that has a huge part to play in the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors. Refuelling a hydrogen bus takes just eight minutes – the same time as it takes to fill up with diesel, but without the resulting emissions.Our mobile hydrogen refuelling systems are the perfect way to introduce a reliable supply of hydrogen that, once up and running at scale, could benefit the wider regional hydrogen ecosystem across the East of England.We’re very much looking forward to seeing how the Sizewell C trial evolves.' If successful, the tests could lead to an order for 150 buses, which is the number that West Midlands was aiming for last year but canned in panic.

Last Wednesday, the National Wealth Fund (NWF) priorities were stated by Government, together with its link with GB Energy, which has now kicked off announcing its first big project investment. NWF will put £5.8bn into green hydrogen and other projects in the next 4 years, with an increase in capital limit to £7bn to get bigger risk projects. NWF has four investment principles 1. Investment that supports the government’s growth and clean energy missions.  2. Investments in capital-intensive projects, businesses or assets.  3. Investments intended to deliver a positive financial return for the Exchequer 4. Investments are expected to crowd in significant private capital over time.  where capital intensive projects are: Prioritising investment in the modern Industrial Strategy sectors of clean energy, digital and technologies, and advanced manufacturing, alongside transport.  Committing at least £5.8 billion into green hydrogen, carbon capture, ports, gigafactories and green steel. Considering investments in “dual-use technologies” across these priority sectors which better support the UK’s defence and security. Flexibility to invest in support of emerging government priorities and in response to changing market conditions.  DESNZ wrote that “The NWF remains the UK’s principal investor and policy bank, and GBE will play a new and distinct role of a developer.”  This role will be more active than previously indicated, with GB Energy expected to:   • Lead the development of clean energy assets from inception and own these assets for the taxpayer over the long term.  • Co-develop projects with partners, through equity stakes and joint ventures.  • Invest in more developed projects that are entering construction or are already in operation, to help build GBE’s development expertise as it scales up.  • “If a project is looking for development and capability support, it should go to GBE.”  • “The NWF remains the place for clean energy projects to go if they want a policy bank to help plug a financing gap.”  The key announcement on Friday was that GB Energy has claimed its first big project, investing in solar for schools/hospitals costing £200M to cover 200 schools and 200 hospitals, beginning this summer. Ed Milliband said,  “This will provide a return for public service straight away… this will cut these school and hospital energy bills by an average of £25,000 for schools and £45,000 for hospitals, and that money will start flowing straight away.”  Also  “The net zero economy grew three times faster than the rest of the economy last year… this is the growth opportunity of the 21st century. Turn your back on net zero and you turn your back on business investment, good jobs, innovation, investment for the future.”   The fact is that GB Energy finalises its bill in Parliament next Tuesday 25 March 2025. We all hope it gets through. But we must apply hydrogen with solar and wind to make this profitable by filling the gaps that plague renewable energy generation, especially in UK winters.

The new Infrastructure and Planning Bill has been published. It looks very long at 167 pages and could take many months to get through. The GB Energy bill was only 10 pages but has still not been completed. We definitely need to take action on planning obstructions. Why can we not build wind turbines near airports? We are held back all across Britain if this continues. Birds do not fly into wind turbines and neither do aircraft Ed Milliband claimed he could change 'a broken planning system that puts the brakes on growth", and Angela Rayner said that “government is paving the way for us to get Britain building more vital infrastructure so our children and grandchildren can grow up in a more energy secure world.” Lets hope it gets through to 'Back the builders and not the blockers' that the hydrogen industries have cited in their messages. has taken around six months to reach its final stages. Given the complexity of the Bill, it is

A new EU roadmap on green energy has just been published by the European Commission. 1. DELEGATED ACT ON LOW CARBON HYDROGEN will be adopted 2. New call for 1bn euro funding in July 2025 3. Scale-up of hydrogen framework 4. Diversify Supply Chains 5. More cooperation between EU members 6. Boost investments. EU is ahead in this Germany aiming to lead EU hydrogen by 2020, using more green electricity and Hydrogen pipes Finland starting a 2.3bn euro project of subsidies for H2. Greece has approved a 111M euro grant for 50MW hydrogen plant Spain has got funded from the 1.2bn euro Hydrogen Valleys scheme aiming for 100MW capacity, well above UK.cent statedambition to position itself a hub for the transport of new energy vectors such as h

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has published its latest plan, Number 7, for cutting CO2in UK by 2038-42. The objective is to reach net zero by 2050, so CCC is aiming for 87% reduction of the 1990 level, costing £26bn a year. 5 avenues are defined plus 43 recommendations. Hydrogen could have a gigantic effect on cutting carbon, while simultaneously saving £billions. Sad to say, the CCC does not see hydrogen as transport fuel, which is our major UK Carbon problem right now. Another problem is that fossil methane and Carbon Capture are predicted to play a very big role, with electrolysis only 54%. The disappointing quote is that hydrogen will play a “small but important” part in industries, in electricity supply and as feed for synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. I do not believe this makes sense when Wind/solar/hydrogen looks so promising.

A recent article by Trevor Wills has reflected on the needs for big batteries saving the Grid. His company Pulse Clean Energy is involved in this directions. Several problems are sigbificant: 1. The Grid is near blackout when we depend too much on Wind/Solar 2. Battery products are increasing at 20%/year but this is not enough 3. There are technical challenges plus finance problems and human issues This last is about fires in Lithium batteries, 3 each day in UK and some can be explosive. This is top of the action list. But other objectives like jobs, low-cost energy and security are necessary. Why is Britain the most expensive when 50% of our generation is the cheapest ever. Someone is getting it wrong. Or profiteering. Perhaps the most important issue is the failure of the grid to accept green generation. In 2024 1700 applications to grid connect were attempted but it has not been successful.The power in the queue went up by a factor 2 to 700GW. Absurd. New jobs are neede in this high skill sector. It is estimated that several hundred thousand new people are needed by 2050. Construction, Design, Operating the new infrastructure are vital. Present supply of new young people is poor. None of the Universities have reacted to this. Ofgem and Neso are awful and fixed in the past. An unusual issue in 2024 was negative priced electricity. This should incentivise new suppliers of batteries. Yet the article does not mention that Hydrogen beats Lithium batteries by a factor 10. This should be emphasised and big changes in policy activated.

Bloomberg just published a report claiming that worldwide investment in clean energy technologies has reached a record $2.1 trillion in 2024, twice the total achieved in 2020, and 11% higher than 2020. This is most encouraging for growth of green hydrogen which depends 100% on Wind, Solar, Hydro and related sources of electricity.

This week proved that Ed Milliband is still keen to encourage Green Hydrogen despite the boring Heathrow and AI mantras produced by the Chancellor. He defended UK Net Zero policy and derided the Heathrow garbage by stating ' "any aviation expansion will only be able to go ahead if it is consistent with our carbon budgets”. He also said “When you think about what this government has done since we came to office… we’ve made big advances in investing in carbon capture and storage. We’ve made big investments in hydrogen… We absolutely do see it as our job, working with other sectors of the state, to drive up what we do, drive up performance, [and] drive down emissions elsewhere than just in the power sector.”

Hopefully, the new Bill from Labour Government will go through in the next few months to allow Planning and Infrastructure to be accelerated. The sad news is that it took an average 4.2 years to get permissions in 2021, much higher than the 2.6 years in 2012. Why not 2.6 MONTHS? The other massive barrier is the documentation, which could be 10,000 pages of bumf. That red-tape kills many good projects immediately. Life is too short. If UK wishes to go green with large Wind/Solar/Hydrogen infrastructure, eg 1000 onshore wind turbines every year until 2025, then it is vital that planning is put through on a democratic basis. For example, if 15000 local folk want it because it benefits their prices and the green motive, then they should win permission over 20 City Councillors resistance. Keep watching the situation of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), often involving large-scale green energy developments. The government states we require “a faster, more certain, and less costly NSIP regime” to install clean power. Will it happen?

The House of Lords has scrutinised the new bill on GB Energy and sent it back to the Commons without any amendments. This is good news because it means that GB Energy can proceed fast. Several amendments were debated but none mentioned hydrogen, which is clearly not a problem. The main question was on the impact of offshore wind and tidal installations that could affect oil and gas. Associated with this was the security issue as rogue countries could interfere. Marine space and climate-change were related factors. As the bill went through, only one remaining Report Stage is at hand, to be followed by Royal Assent soon. too long.

The Grid plan for future pylons has just been published under the name Distribution Future Energy Scenarios (DFES). National Grid owns the wires and has proposed plans to grow up to 2050, fitting the document last year from ESO which transitioned to NESO (National Energy System Operator). The new plan takes into account 120 local authorities plus major industries and businesses, while integrating 8000 local projects in train. If UK went fully electric, the Grid would have to expand by a factor around 5, which is a daunting, probably impossible, target. Surely, there are people around who would like the Grid to get smaller, because our UK electricity prices are the biggest in the world, inhibiting growth of UK as a manufacturing nation. Prices need to drop by a factor 5 before the grid expands by this ludicrous factor 5.

Only one English onshore wind turbine was installed in 2023, because David Cameron essentially banned such green power generators in 2015. Yesterday, on 23 January, the new government has stated that it will stop the barriers to such installations soon, mainly by cutting the legal actions that cause huge delays and excessive costs. At present, 3 failing legal actions can follow each other. In future, those cases will be limited to reduce delays. Since we need 1000 new onshore wind turbines per year in England, such a move is interesting, hopefully chopping the 55% project challenges that are now said to be made in UK. The sooner the better.

The new Labour Government realisation that onshore wind in UK is absolutely necessary has been emphasised by John Swinney, Scotland's First Minister, when he opened Wind/Solar/Battery Centre in Perth Scotland, owned by SSE renewables, the company that is already keen on renewable local energy around UK, with 2.5GW running by onshore wind/solar/battery technologies. More significant, there are 800MW of new projects under construction. Mr Swinney said 'SSE has made significant progress made towards building a cleaner energy system and the Scottish Government is absolutely committed to working with the industry to achieve this goal.' delay the commissioning of its 1.2GW Dogger

Last week, there was an announcement from DESNZ about THE HYDROGEN LEVY which is a new tax designed to cause problems for Green Hydrogen, similar to the ridiculous Carbon Levies that we have endured over the last 3 decades. Now we find the official name for the Hydrogen Levy is 'GSO or Gas Shipper Obligation'. This new tax is meant to fund the Hydrogen Allocation Rounds (HARs) that have been defined by DESNZ over several years without much happening, a very disappointing approach to make UK a leader in Green Hydrogen. It would have been far better if the Government had visited China to see how ;hydrogen businesses can be incentivised in a capitalist way, making China the number one country in the world in a short time, overtaking UK during 3 months of 2018. GSO will be started in 2027, replacing the present exchequer financing. This policy reminds us that hydrogen cars will be taxed this year, along with battery electric vehicles which are quite different. Since there are only about 500 hydrogen vehicles in UK, this tax policy is obtuse, expensive and ludicrous in terms of tax revenues that are significant. Let's hope that GSO is not in the same class.

Lat week the Government revealed its 25 new awards to businesses bidding for Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which was geared to spending £189M this year, but this round was only £53M to 25 businesses. The idea is that companies like glass manufacturers, 3 being funded, can transition to low carbon hydrogen for example to reduce emissions. Cement, oil and food industries were also successful. Sarah Jones, the Minister for Industry, said this is the 'Latest milestone in the government's mission to reignite its industrial heartlands, tackle the climate crisis and turbocharge growth for decades to come'. Unfortunately, there was not one in the West Midlands.

A 50MW hydrogen-by-electrolysis project has been awarded to ITM Power based in Sheffield, where it is now producing many 5MW Neptune containerised water-electrolysis units. ITM will do the Engineering design for the client that will decide on investing in 2025, with 10 Neptune containers doing the main work. By 2027, the production level is planned to be 5000 tonnes/a, but the location has not yet been announced, but probably in Germany

In the UnitedHydrogenLimited wrap-up last week, the first 3 Contracts for Difference (CfD) signing was registered, enabling a strike price of £9.49/kg over 15 years of pure green hydrogen production. This is part of DESNZ Hydrogen Production Business Model, which has been underwhelming up to now, having been initiated almost 3 years ago. 8 more contracts are due to be signed in 2025, said the LCCC (Low Carbon Contracts Company)run by the Government DESNZ. Then it will be possible to judge whether UK will hit its 10GW target by 2030. At present, green hydrogen production in UK is paltry and unlikely to make the grade.