The on-the-ground reality of UK hydrogen demand

The list of sectors turning to hydrogen grows longer every year, but projections based on a top-down view of industry risk underestimating the level of demand

In the UK today there are many factories that make our cement, glass and whisky that will need hydrogen to replace natural gas. Yet some forecasts suggest industrial demand will be limited as they ‘could’ electrify. Those projections miss what is happening on the ground, and that gap could cost us jobs, competitiveness and progress towards net zero. It also means households risk higher bills as industry struggles with limited options, while the UK forfeits a chance to anchor thousands of clean-energy jobs in our industrial heartlands. Too often, modelling takes a neat, top-down view of industry, assuming that whole sectors are identical and leading to the conclusion that they can simply elec