UK Plans for Hydrogen-ready Boilers Amidst Possible Ban on Natural Gas-only Boilers

Andi C., Tech Times 13 December 2022, 03:12 pm

The UK BEIS launches a plan to enforce Hydrogen-ready boilers by 2025.

A recent consultation on enhancing boiler standards was launched by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), wherein citizens of the UK should adopt hydrogen-ready boilers starting in 2026.

According to the Guardian, the UK government has provided grants for homeowners to install heat pumps and is looking into alternatives to the polluting fossil fuel gas currently used in Britain's electricity grid.

UK's Float Plan For 'Hydrogen-ready' Domestic Boilers

The UK government intends to replace natural gas with hydrogen gas boilers as it is far more environmentally practical compared to natural gas.

The director of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), an NGO aimed at advancing policy innovation within the energy community, slammed green hydrogen and further elaborated on the plan in a recent Tweet.

"Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) data on future cost projections for green hydrogen indicate that green hydrogen is expected to be 3-11 times more expensive than fossil gas at pre-pandemic prices." Dr. Jan Rosenow stated.

In addition to announcing £100 million for nuclear and hydrogen projects, ministers are considering mandating that all new household boilers be "hydrogen-ready" as of 2026.

However, the new policy transformation will take place gradually over some time so that it will not give homeowners any additional difficulty or cost.

In fact, British Gas reports that several of the largest boiler producers in the UK have assured that the price of hydrogen-ready boilers will not be any higher than the price of a boiler that runs on standard gas 1.

Although there is still no precise timeline and many technical issues still need to be resolved, the transformation is most likely to occur in three stages.

UK's Gas-only Boiler Ban Policy

A ban on gas boilers in new homes comes into force in 2025, although uncertainty remains over the timeframe for the phase-out of fossil gas in existing homes.

According to a recent estimate by Express, using hydrogen as a fuel source might cost up to 11 times as much as using natural gas, which is bad news for the UK's environmental goals.

Since the gas alternative might reduce our reliance on pricey natural gas imports and increase our energy security by using the most plentiful element in the universe to power our industries, many experts have advocated using hydrogen as a solution to both fossil fuel energy and climate issues.

Although there is disagreement over the viability of using hydrogen in Britain's gas network and the cost to homes, hydrogen is anticipated to play a big part in the decarbonization of heavy industry and the transportation network.

Ministers are considering requiring that all new domestic boilers be "hydrogen-ready" from 2026, as they announced £100m for nuclear and hydrogen projects.