Last week, commencing 24th February, was Hydrogen Week UK. It is an event which highlights how the UK can make the most of the element, which is more environmentally friendly than natural gas, as the government seeks to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and decarbonise its power and industries.

The UK has a hydrogen strategy that is supported by government funding, industry expertise and research, the ultimate goal of which is to produce up to 10 gigawatts of low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 with at least half of this coming from electrolysis. Combined, all of this would help the UK to become a global leader in hydrogen within the next five years. The North West plays a key role in this strategy, as these key figures in the region explain.


Jane Gaston, CEO, Net Zero North West, commented:

“Hydrogen's role as a low-emission alternative to fossil fuels is critical to achieving the UK's ambitious net zero trajectory, offering practical decarbonisation solutions for hard-to-abate sectors. Hydrogen Week UK is a fantastic opportunity for the North West to proudly shout about the UK's largest and most exciting hydrogen projects happening across our region, from production, transportation, storage and utilisation."


Tom Lissett, Director of Bioresources and Green Energy at United Utilities, added:

“We’re excited to be supporting the hydrogen economy and carbon capture markets here in the North West. Recognising water availability as a key enabler of hydrogen production, we’re supporting the sustainable development of hydrogen initiatives through collaboration with partners, and we’re exploring how we could potentially generate and use hydrogen as we make our own transition to Net Zero.

“We’ve already established a pioneering partnership with climate tech company Levidian to enable us to convert sewage biogas into hydrogen and graphene. This incredibly exciting, government-backed trial is now operating and has huge potential to help deliver carbon reduction targets for both United Utilities and the wider North West.

“The North West is home to several further innovative hydrogen developments and we’re excited to explore our potential role as enablers of the industry, generators and users of hydrogen to support the region’s transition to a low-carbon future,” he said.

Green skills and those allied with hydrogen as a future fuel source are undoubtedly vital for the country to reach its targets. As well as training young learners who come to them directly from school, The City of Liverpool College also offers training to more mature students who may have already been working in industry for some time.


Colin Salmon, Director of Work Based Learning and STEM at The City of Liverpool College, said:

“Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) investment is ensuring our engineers are given the resources they need to train young learners and upskill industry in the technology behind hydrogen fuel cells.

“Our highly experienced welding department offers a pipe welding apprenticeship which is of increasing interest to employers needing to retrofit existing infrastructure to meet the demands of hydrogen technology,” he added.

Thirty-nine miles down the M62, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) are also optimistic on the outlook for hydrogen in the wider region.


Amer Gaffar FRSA, Director of the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre at MMU, commented:

“The future of hydrogen in the North West is exciting. I believe we have a collective, shared vision which includes an understanding of the role hydrogen will play. The excitement is contained within collaborations between different regions and organisations. In turn, this will create a future that includes clarity for sector growth that supports multiple areas of the region’s economy.

“I am hugely optimistic for the potential of hydrogen and the wide variety of projects, programmes and the expertise that exists in the North West to support this potential. This includes excitement across all occupational sectors that hydrogen will cover, as well as an understanding of the combinations of technologies like hydrogen that will need to work in a unified way to support the region, its communities and multi-disciplined stakeholders.

“They will help us both understand the problem we are solving with hydrogen and support identification of the challenges that both enable and accelerate the sector,” he continued.


Chris Manson-Whitton of Progressive Energy and Hynet said:

“It is ever more apparent that, globally, we need to do all we can to reduce and remove the carbon we all emit - down to net zero. We have a range of tools available, and we need to act quickly.

“We also need to ensure that we seize the economic opportunities created by this transition.

“Low carbon hydrogen will play a pivotal role in decarbonising industry, enabling it to continue to manufacture the products we all use on a daily basis into a net zero future.

“We see a future where hydrogen is a driving force in powering a low carbon, more sustainable world. We originated, and developed, HyNet – the blueprint for global industrial decarbonisation - to create a source of locally produced, low carbon fuel which can be transported to our industries, extinguishing carbon emissions across the region.

“Hydrogen’s superpower is its ability to provide long term, low-carbon energy storage. This can be used to generate secure and reliable low carbon power when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind isn’t blowing.

“HyNet will utilise the abundant skills, experience and infrastructure in the North West is fully utilised in to a net zero future.

“Progressive Energy are proud to be at the forefront of these efforts, working on projects that will lay the foundation for a prosperous, sustainable future. We are fully focused on leading the HyNet Alliance to make HyNet happen.”

Meanwhile, hydrogen producers are also looking different areas to the future with positivity.


Marta Csibra, EET Hydrogen, said:

“I am excited about the transformative effect that the development of the hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure will deliver.

“This infrastructure will create the opportunity for more than 20 customers (in the initial phase) to access hydrogen which will enable them to decarbonise and create world-first low-carbon products. It will also create resilience in the system and enablethe development of hydrogen-fired power in the North West; balancing the grid when the sun doesn’t shine.”

This is truly the North West’s moment. Hydrogen Week UK can shine the spotlight on why the region has so much to offer in terms of this fuel for the future.


David Pakin, chair of the Hydrogen Alliance, commented:

“The North West is the UK’s industrial heartland. Now, as we pivot our economy to thrive in a net zero carbon future, the region sits at the forefront of the global energy transition.

“The region has grasped the opportunity to create a sustainable energy future by transforming its energy landscape to unlock substantial economic and environmental benefits to the region.

“The development of infrastructure to produce, transport and importantly store hydrogen will drive economic growth and, in turn, attract investment and secure jobs. In addition, regionally-based energy production would provide the region with a low-carbon, secure source of power.

“HyNet is rooted in the North West region. The project exemplifies the power of collaboration with multiple organisations who are working together as an alliance to develop large-scale hydrogen production, transportation and storage infrastructure whilst utilising the skills of the region’s experienced workforce.

“It is an incredible opportunity to produce, transport and store low carbon hydrogen at scale, decarbonise our essential industry whilst creating new economic opportunities, attracting investment, safeguarding existing roles and creating new jobs.

“The possibilities are endless and I’m incredibly optimistic about what the future holds for hydrogen and the North West as we power the UK’s transition to net-zero."