The Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) Programme

About the Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator

The Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) Innovation Programme, opened in April 2022, to provide funding for innovation projects that can demonstrate end-to-end industrial fuel switching to hydrogen. The scope includes the full technology chain, from hydrogen generation and delivery infrastructure through to industrial end-use, including the integration of the components in a single project. It forms part of the BEIS £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes through the 2020s and 2030s.

• The feasibility studies explore how systems could be designed and provide information on the technical requirements and costs.
• The demonstration projects construct end-to-end industrial hydrogen systems, from hydrogen production to end-use, to prove their feasibility and provide further evidence on the real-world performance and costs. We expect demonstrators to be of the order 1-10MW.

The evidence generated by the IHA on the use of hydrogen by industrial users will help inform strategic decisions in 2026 on the role of low carbon hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas in the gas grid. For more information on this area of policy, please see the UK Hydrogen Strategy which was published in August 2021.