| answer text |
<p>The Government is committed to developing hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised
energy carrier for the UK. Low carbon hydrogen presents an opportunity for Northern
Ireland, and the UK as a whole, to deliver against our clean growth goals – meeting
our decarbonisation needs while capturing commercial opportunities. This is especially
important as we support our economy to recover from Covid-19.</p><p /><p>To realise
the opportunities from hydrogen we are undertaking a range of activities:</p><p> </p><ul><li>investing
up to £121m in hydrogen innovation across the value chain;</li><li>developing business
models to support the deployment of, and investment in, low carbon hydrogen production;
and</li><li>a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to stimulate capital investment.</li></ul><p>
</p><p>The UK Government will be setting out further plans to support hydrogen across
the UK in a comprehensive hydrogen strategy, intended to be published in early 2021.</p><p>
</p><p>The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I have had discussions with
Ministerial colleagues about the potential for Northern Ireland to play an important
part in a hydrogen economy and I am looking seriously at how the Government can best
support this.</p><p> </p><p>Officials from the Northern Ireland Executive, as well
as Ryse/Wrightbus based in Northern Ireland, are engaged on the strategy through the
Hydrogen Advisory Council – a joint government/industry partnership to inform strategy
development and formalise engagement with industry.</p><p> </p>
|
|
