Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 28 Tachwedd 2023.
Scotland has immense potential in the production of green hydrogen, and its application could decarbonise many aspects of our economy. There is an emerging consensus that hydrogen will play a significant role in some parts of our transport system, in industry and in a number of other sectors, but there is an expectation that it will not play a central role in home heating.
The process of generating renewable electricity, converting it into hydrogen, transporting it and converting it back into power that can be applied in heating will always involve efficiency losses at every stage. There will be far greater benefit from using renewable electricity directly, especially through devices such as heat pumps that achieve more than 100 per cent efficiency by drawing energy from the ambient environment. The UK Government is moving to the position, which we took some time ago, of recognising that, although hydrogen might have some role to play in heating, it is not expected to be a central one.
We, of course, continue to engage with all stakeholders that are interested in the green hydrogen economy in a wider sense. We in no way play down or seek to ignore the immense opportunities that hydrogen will present for our economy, the rest of our energy system and industrial uses.