THE SOUTH WEST IS POSITIONED TO BUILD A SECURE HYDROGEN ECONOMY

The HIL Breakfast Hub will also be visiting Durham, Manchester and Hull.

Encouraging green skills was a huge topic at the event. Richard highlighted the work that is being done to tackle the skills shortage: “If you went back five years and you spoke to the colleges about what plumbing apprenticeships might look like, it bears no resemblance to what we need around the installation of heat pumps.”

Tackling the skills shortage can also be achieved by tackling the current diversity issues in the industry, when asked how the hydrogen industry can encourage people of minorities, young people and women into the sector, Debby explained that it comes down to maintaining the conversation.

She said: “It is about planning and engaging communities from the beginning. We must keep that conversation going and recognise that these projects are going to be longlasting. This isn’t going to be a five-year investment, some of the major infrastructure projects might be going on for another 120 years, we need to have that longerterm vision.”

She continued to express that it is crucial that the community is at the heart of future plans: “It requires commitment and engagement from everyone involved. I think that we’ve got a lot to crack in terms of bringing communities with us.”

Richard added that through the Combined Authority and the Local Enterprise Partnership, work on how better support can be given to the Black and Minoritised community in the region has been explored: “We’re working with the Black South West Network and another organisation, and that team graduated the back end of last year.”

“It was brilliant because we had industry sitting alongside the university, college, and the community to think about the skills transition. It struck me at the end of it all that the reality for all of us in the room is in the hands of those young people from our wider community. They will drive the success of us and we’re already seeing some brilliant benefits of these activities.”

South West region’s timeline on hydrogen progression

When asked about the timeline on progression, David touched on some of the projects and targets Hydrogen South West has in the next five to ten years.

“We have got the Bristol Port project, we want to get that ready for the next wave of net zero hydrogen funding this year and then into planning and construction. Planning could potentially be a constraint, so we want to start planning and construction to be operational by the end of 2025, or beginning of 2026.”

From a Western Gateway point of view, Debby explained that the focus is on strategy: “We are developing our work stream and our activities over the next year and get some funding for that. This is a practical hands-on delivery side to mobilise the strategy to ensure it is not going to sit on the shelf, we want to put people together and make it happen.”

The key takeaways from the panel discussion were that if the UK is to unlock the full potential that hydrogen can bring to the economy, then maximising the cluster of projects across the country is necessary and that the South West region is uniquely placed to offer many opportunities for hydrogen production, storage, and distribution.