Innovation Centre for Energy Transition: Peterborough

Opened the debate

The hon. Member is concerned about the need to attract high-skilled, well-paid jobs and drive a green economy in Peterborough. He highlights the current unsuitability of the UK's natural gas network for hydrogen transportation due to risks such as hydrogen embrittlement, stressing the importance of developing new materials and technologies for safe transmission and distribution of hydrogen. The Member also points out that there are no other plans in the UK to attract research and development activity in this emerging sector.

Government Response

As always, it is a great pleasure to be here under your chairmanship, Sir George. I sincerely thank my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough for securing this incredibly important debate, for articulating with such passion and feeling how much he cares for the constituency of Peterborough, and for championing the potential of clean technologies and the significant benefits that they will bring to the UK economy. The minister highlighted the work being done in Peterborough regarding green ambitions, mentioning two organisations winning top prizes at the east of England energy efficiency awards last month. She discussed the opportunities presented by the net zero transition including lower bills for customers, warmer homes for vulnerable people, and job creation while protecting our planet against climate change impacts. The Government have attracted £300 billion of private and public investment in low-carbon sectors since 2010 with an anticipated additional £100 billion by 2030, making the UK a prime location for net zero innovation. She detailed plans to deliver up to 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen capacity in the United Kingdom by 2030 and discussed the Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) which supports clean energy supply chains and aims to grow local skills and prosperity within regions. The minister acknowledged the importance of transport infrastructure for creating a hydrogen economy, committing to designing new business models for hydrogen transportation and storage infrastructure by 2025. She also recognised the role of sustainable aviation fuel industry support from an innovation centre in decarbonising aviation while supporting economic growth. To facilitate ideas such as the proposed innovation centre, she committed today to organise a meeting across Departments which is crucial to achieving net zero ambition.