Page 17 - Gi flipbook September 2018

Biogas has huge potential for heat

achieve this, waste strategy which is deployment of renewable
currently managed by the Defra generation technologies, at sufficient
must be aligned with energy scale to allow competitive supply
strategy, which is managed by BEIS. chain development, standardisation
and further innovation, that costs
Develop a market for hydrogen for came down and their potential was
decarbonisation in the long term fully realised. If the UK is to exploit
■ Hydrogen has potential applications the potential offered by low carbon
across the energy system, including gases in time to contribute to the
injection into the gas grid for 2050 decarbonisation targets, it will
domestic heat, providing energy for need to install production
industry and fuelling hydrogen technologies in the near term.
buses, trains and other heavy goods
vehicles. Developing production of THE IGEM VIEW
hydrogen will entail building up the IGEM is clear that gas has a significant
currently low levels of both supply and critical role to play in the
of and demand for hydrogen. One decarbonisation challenge and
of the challenges for policymakers transition to a low carbon economy.
is to incentivise businesses to invest Gas has been a source of energy in the
Support biogas production for in hydrogen, reward those who use UK for over 200 years, serving 23.2
decarbonisation in the near term it, and build up hydrogen million customers nationwide. To
■ Biogases, such as biomethane and production, storage and transport negate the role of gas in decarbonising
bioSNG, are chemically similar to infrastructure. heat would mean abandoning a world
natural gas and can therefore be ■ Hydrogen buses are already being class piece of infrastructure.
used straight away to replace used in Aberdeen and London. A Neil Atkinson, IGEM CEO, said: “Low
natural gas in heating, industry and wider roll-out of hydrogen buses in carbon forms of gas could make a
transport. However, biogases need other local authorities is one way significant contribution to the UK’s
continuing support from to build up early hydrogen demand efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
government, firstly to allow them to in the near term. Other routes such emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. In
compete with natural gas in the as blending hydrogen with natural order to realise this opportunity,
energy market and secondly to gas in the gas grid to supply heat however, the production of these
encourage further development of to domestic homes could operate gases will need to be developed
the technology to make them as on a larger scale and therefore further and commercialised.
efficient and competitive as possible. support early carbon capture and “Policy development designed to
storage projects. These latter support the decarbonisation of the
■ Biogases can make use of sources projects are likely to require a economy as a whole, or specific sectors
of waste which might otherwise go significant role for government to like heat and transport, will clearly
to landfill where they can generate support the investment. need to take account of the broad
methane emissions. Food waste and range of technologies available and
sewage are two important sources Learn lessons from the power sector must encourage their demonstration at
of waste that can be used to ■ The power sector has undergone sufficient diversity and scale.
produce low carbon gas. The rapid decarbonisation in recent “Hydrogen, for example, doesn’t
Committee on Climate Change has years. While there are different have a developed supply chain,
recognised that properly disposing challenges in decarbonising the heat neither from a bulk industrial process
of food waste as one of the four sector, there are still lessons which such as SMR, or from electrolysis. In
most simple, low cost options to can be applied. One is particularly order to get one, we need to
reduce emissions. However, to important: it was only through encourage and support investments in

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