in December the ministry also cancelled progression of a village-scale hydrogen trial at Winlaton near Redcar, pictured.

Officials now believe the low carbon gas, in either its fossil-fuel-derived blue hue, or the cleaner green variety electrolysed with wind-generated electricity, may have a role to play in heat decarbonisation, but in slower time and in only ‘some’ locations.

D-ESNZ plans to take a final decision in 2026, after assessing evidence including from a neighbourhood-scale hydrogen trial in Fife and other studies across Europe.

Britain’s four main operators of gas networks have lobbied Whitehall hard for hydrogen to be viewed as a panacea, a high convenience, low cost replacement for methane-heavy, climate-wrecking ‘natural’ gas in Britain’s 30 million homes.

In October 2022, the then D-BEIS ministry invited the four to commit to operational trials, leading to mass deployment.  All four responded with business plans.

But the hydrogen drive had been opposed as impractical, manipulative and still polluting by advocates for electric heat.

One immediately welcomed Whitehall’s backtracking yesterday.  James Standley, chief technical officer of Truro-based Kensa, Britain’s only manufacturer of heat pumps, and a company part-owned by Octopus Energy,  said abandoning the village-scale trial was “further recognition that hydrogen has no major role to play in future home heating”.

“Every academic study on the issue, the economics and the physics demonstrates this”, Standley went on. “The government should now take the next logical step and rule out hydrogen heating for anything other than a small number of very specific cases.

Electrification, whether via heat pumps or heat networks, remains the best and quickest way to achieve clean heat while ensuring the best outcomes for consumers, Standley opined.

“The longer hydrogen remains part of the conversation”, the Kensa boss said, “the further the transition will be delayed, hampering the speed at which these already proven technologies are rolled out.”

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Santander UK are providing undisclosed credit to build the battery, while conceding Tag full equity control.

Roaring Hill is TagEnergy’s fourth storage device to be supported by Santander UK since it entered the UK market in 2020.

Twelve months of construction now about to start should see the box yield current early in 2024.  It will house Tesla Megapack lithium-ion packs, with Tesla’s Autobidder AI software offering real-time trading and control.

TagEnergy bought Roaring Hill from initial developer RES in September 2021.  It will retain the firm as asset manager.

The investors’ first project in Britain, Hawkers Hill Energy Park in Dorset, had its switch thrown in September.   Projects at Jamesfield, near Abernethy, Perthshire, and Chapel Farm near Luton are under construction.  Together with previously announced ventures in Yorkshire and Pitkevy, Fife, the ventures complete Tag’s UK portfolio of 320MW in power and 640 MWh in capacity.

CEO Franck Woitiez, pictured, said the company’s momentum reflected its determination to speed the shift to a clean energy future.

“When TagEnergy entered the UK market, our stated ambition was to leverage our large-scale battery expertise to support the grid and accelerate the energy transition. Little over a year later, that ambition continues to become reality as we prepare to deliver our fourth facility at Roaring Hill,” Mr Woitiez said.

“We are pleased that Santander UK has once again recognised the value of our projects in increasing both the capacity of the grid and renewable’s share of it as we help meet a critical need for the industry, homes, businesses and the planet.”

Roaring Hill, Hawkers Hill, Chapel Farm and Jamesfield, together with previously announced projects Lakeside in North Yorkshire and Pitkevy, in Fife, take TagEnergy’s secured UK portfolio to date to 320MW/640MWh.   Other operations are in Portugal, Spain, France and Australia.

It is controlled by Jacques Veyrat’s Impala SAS Group, supported by major investors Mirova and private equity firm Omnes.

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