Proposed 'Hydrogen village' scheme cancelled by government citing "issues with hydrogen supply"

The trial to replace natural gas with hydrogen to heat homes in Redcar had seen increasing opposition in recent weeks, with residents concerned they were being “railroaded” into the project and not being given a choice.

Meanwhile, the Government has awarded funding to a separate scheme to create a hydrogen production and re-fuelling plant in Bradford which claims it could achieve “the decarbonisation equivalent of removing 800 diesel-fuelled buses a day from West Yorkshire roads.”

Last week, Labour’s leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, Alec Brown, wrote to Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Claire Coutinho to warn her of the“growth in volume of opposition” to the Redcar pilot, as the Government was still undecided about proceeding with the scheme.

It’s the second such scheme to have been cancelled before launch because of residents’ concerns, following the scrapping of a similar project in July in the village of Whitby, near Ellesmere Port.

DESNZ’s newly-published “Hydrogen Strategy” update confirmed the cancellation of the Redcar trial “due to issues in obtaining a robust, local hydrogen supply.”

The news of the project’s cancellation comes the day after Conservative Redcar MP Jacob Young also wrote to Ms Coutinho, urging her department to make a decision on the scheme quickly.

In his letter, he criticised the Government for allowing a “vacuum of information” to develop in his constituency, saying it had “allowed for the spread of misinformation and indeed fear amongst some of my residents.”

In response to the news, Coun Alec Brown wrote on social media: “I find it totally ridiculous that the Government didn’t check that there would be enough hydrogen to supply any trial before causing so much anxiety for residents.

“It’s like something from a Monty Python movie,” he added.

Green Party candidate for Tees Valley mayor Sally Bunce had been active with residents in the town in engaging with the project. She welcomed the news, saying it was an “ill thought-out project for many reasons,” including recent studies which concluded the gas was not suitable nor efficient for heating homes.

“Hydrogen is being forced onto people by big fossil fuel companies, not because it is good for consumers, but because it is a way of saving their out-dated businesses. A more affordable, safe and cleaner alternatives must be our focus,” she said.

“Cutting bills through insulation programmes that generate well-paid, skilled jobs and the rollout of efficient heat pumps is the solution that serves our communities best.”

Alice Harrison, Fossil Fuels Campaign Leader at NGO Global Witness, agreed, saying: “The Redcar hydrogen trial was a red herring.

“This was the fossil fuel industry’s latest attempt to delay the demise of gas infrastructure in the UK’.

A spokesperson for Northern Gas Networks, which was selected to run the trial, said: “We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to take forward our plan to heat homes and businesses in Redcar with low carbon hydrogen.

“Without adequate local hydrogen production, it is no longer possible to deliver the project. We’d like to thank the community in Redcar for its support during the development of our plans.”