Craig McLaren discusses the challenges and opportunities in planning for hydrogen that have been identified through discussions with planning authorities, hydrogen industry, agencies and regulators.
The National Planning Improvement team, based in the Improvement Service, has undertaken scoping to ascertain the challenges involved in planning for hydrogen and has set these out in our new insights report. This asked the hydrogen industry, planning authorities, government agencies and regulators:
- what they think the challenges are in planning for hydrogen
- the knowledge and understanding of planning and planning processes in the hydrogen industry
- how to access, and who could provide, expertise that could be deployed to support planning authorities
- what the pipeline of hydrogen projects was coming down the line
- the understanding of the preparedness of planning authorities to deal with Hydrogen proposals
- what further support planning authorities would benefit from
It identifies five key challenges on planning for hydrogen:
Understanding
It is considered that the understanding of hydrogen within planning authorities is variable and depends very much on the exposure they have had to hydrogen proposals. There is also a view that some hydrogen developers do not have a clear understanding of how the planning system works and the best ways to engage with planning authorities. A key concern voiced across sectors was the lack of impartial information available to inform planners, communities and elected members on the health and safety impacts of hydrogen and mitigations that can be put in place to manage and control them.
Regulation
There appears to be a need for a better understanding of the different consenting and regulatory regimes in place and how they interact with one another. There are calls for better synergy between these to ensure complementarity and certainty for both industry and planning authorities. This includes a need for clarity on the different timelines involved.
Process
Industry partners are keen for as much certainty as possible in the planning process in terms of the likely decision, timescale for decision-making and the type of information required when. There was a plea from planning authorities for early engagement from industry on proposals. All sectors wanted clarity on when Environmental Impact Assessments would be required.
Impacts
Linked to the need for a better understanding on hydrogen more generally, there was a specific discussion on the need for planning authorities to have clarity on the types of impact and risks of hydrogen manufacturing. storage and transportation of hydrogen and the mitigations that can be put in place to deal with these. The type and number of conditions placed on planning permissions would be key to this.
Spatial
It has been pointed out that hydrogen facilities require specific elements to allow them to function effectively. These include access to water to support the process, an ability for effluence, access to the electricity grid and proximity to a customer base who can use the electricity that is produced from the hydrogen (the ‘off-take’). There is a question if it may be possible to identify suitable sites through the local development plan process.
This has helped to inform the work that is now being undertaken through the planning hub.