🎥 1. Electrolyser Horizons: Reshaping Hydrogen Strategy Across the UK

The week began with the closeout meeting for the Electrolyser Horizons project, hosted at the impressive Fife Renewables Innovation Centre. A great venue — but sunlit seas and the anglers outside made it clear that this wasn’t your average office environment! Thanks, Anna Morris and Cameron Mitchell, for hosting us at FRIC.

The project — a collaboration between SGN, University of Surrey, University of St Andrews, University of Strathclyde (PNDC, and the Centre for Energy Policy) — has been focused on creating a national techno-economic evaluation framework for electrolytic hydrogen production.

I’ll be sharing a full summary soon — but the key takeaway for now: proper infrastructure planning + local knowledge = a cleaner, scalable future.

🚨 2. H100 Fife: A Hydrogen Powerhouse in Plain Sight

Just hours later, we got a front-row seat to the H100 Fife site — a world-first hydrogen gas network delivering zero-carbon heat to 300 homes. The technology includes a hydrogen production facility, offshore wind power, and hydrogen-ready boilers and hobs.

James Carroll and Joshua Ayobami shared fascinating insights into the site’s evolution, from coal mining to an oil rig logistics base and now as a beacon of renewable transition. Their storytelling gave us more than just technical details—they gave context that made the hydrogen fire warm.

🍳 3. Pancakes, Hydrogen Showdown, and Colours of Flame

The highlight? Susan Day flipped a perfectly golden pancake using a hydrogen-powered hob. As she quipped: “No difference here!” — referring to how similar the cooking and heat was to natural gas. A simple but powerful moment.

And here’s a science note: Yes, the hydrogen flame was orange, not invisible. Turns out, imperfections in the fuel and surroundings can change the flame colour. It’s a lesson in both chemistry and communication — hydrogen doesn’t always behave as textbook diagrams say it does, and our expectations should evolve with each demo.

🤝 4. Reconnection at All-Energy — Timing Truly is Everything

And just like that, the week ended with a welcome reunion. I had the chance to reconnect with Johana Duran Santos, a key collaborator at all stages of the project.

We missed you in the closeout meeting, Johana — but better late than never!

🌞 Final Thoughts

The week was a vivid reminder that hydrogen is more than a fuel — it’s a bridge between past, present, and future. In Fife, you can almost feel the history in the air. And if we learned anything from Susan’s pancake demo, it’s that hydrogen is not only ready for real-world use — it’s ready for the kitchen too!

Stay tuned for more insights and stories on research, random books, gardening and others. Have a tale of your own where energy and community collide? Please share below.

Ten years since the Climate Change Act, the UK has made significant progress in reducing emissions from the power sector. Overall emissions have dropped by nearly 60 per cent on 2008 levels and, while five years ago fossil fuels contributed nearly two-thirds of the UK’s power, by August 2018 over 60 per cent was instead provided by zero-carbon sources. An excellent example of what clear goals, well-designed policies and technological innovation can achieve.

The job to decarbonise energy is, however, far from finished. Not only will the power sector need to continue on its decarbonisation trajectory, but we urgently need to decarbonise how we heat our homes, invest in energy efficiency to reduce overall energy demand and increase the deployment of low carbon cars.

The good news is that, aside from avoiding the devastating impacts of climate change, cutting carbon brings a wealth of other benefits, including lower bills, better-insulated homes, cleaner air as well as jobs in low carbon industries. But how should those benefits be distributed?

A look at how benefits (and costs) of the low carbon transition are currently distributed

Policy and energy system design should ensure that the benefits and costs of decarbonisation are fairly distributed. Yet, this is not currently happening.

The way energy policy is currently funded, via consumers’ energy bills, is highly regressive. On average, the poorest households spend around 10 per of their income on energy while the richest households only pay 3 per cent. And this regardless of whether households are actively taking part in the transition themselves. For example, the uptake of solar PV installations is greater in more affluent households. Similarly, previous ECO schemes have not appropriately targeted those most in need of home insulation, with the IPPR estimating that only 30 per cent of funds are likely to be spent on fuel-poor consumers³.

The uneven distribution of benefits is also evident on a regional scale. A recent study from Imperial College has shown that only some parts of the country are seeing the benefits of low carbon technologies, largely as a result of different levels of national and local government investments, building efficiency and household incomes.

Finally, the way the UK energy market is designed is outdated. Innovation in low carbon technologies is resulting in a more distributed energy system, with (generally affluent) consumers increasingly opting for small-scale technologies to generate and store their own energy and use electric vehicles. However, given the current energy market design, as these new forms of energy generation and use grow they are likely to challenge the way in which we cover the costs for the grid, flexibility and back up, as highlighted by BEIS Secretary of State Greg Clark in his recent speech.

What could a fairer system look like?

Sharing the benefits and costs of the low carbon transition requires a rethink of the UK’s energy policy and market design.

Various options are on the table. Research by UKERC suggests alternative forms of funding could place policy costs on businesses or recover them through general taxation. Alternative market-based solutions are also being explored. One option would be to have more cost reflective tariffs, which would allow to more effectively recover fixed costs and encourage fuel switching and uptake of low carbon technologies if coupled to an appropriate carbon price applied across electricity and gas. Alternatively, with the emergence of smart home energy management systems, energy may be offered as a part of a bundle of services rather than as a product itself. Non-commercial solutions, such as community energy and energy cooperatives, may also play a role in ensuring a bigger share of consumers can benefit from cheap, low carbon energy.