CASE STUDY 6
Hydrogen Farm of the Future
Case study: Hydrogen Farm of the Future
- Project reference: NIA_NGN_451
- Project partner: Cenex and The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE)
- Project status: Complete
- Overall project value: £116,050
- Innovation theme: Flexibility and commercial evolution
INNOVATION THEME:
*Photo credit to RASE
With the UK’s farming sector seeking affordable and effective net zero solutions and switch from diesel as its primary fuel to green alternatives, NGN commissioned a groundbreaking study to explore the role that hydrogen could play.
In partnership with Cenex and The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) – and building on the influential Farm of the Future report – this project focused on how hydrogen and other alternative green fuels could support a transition to net zero without undermining productivity.
Using Yorkshire as a representative sample of UK agriculture, the project involved a three-pronged approach:
1
Fuel landscape review to assess the current and future availability of diesel alternatives.
2
Hydrogen feasibility to analyse hydrogen’s applicability across different farming types – particularly heavy fossil fuel users like arable and intensive horticulture farms – to determine which ones could be at the forefront of hydrogen use in the future.
3
Engaging with the farming community at The Great Yorkshire Show to assess awareness of current energy usage and openness to using alternative fuel sources.
The research findings, which have been detailed in an informative report, have provided an important first step in identifying how the farming industry perceives hydrogen as a future fuel and the ways that it could be used within the UK’s future farming sector.
It is the UK’s first report focused on hydrogen use in agriculture and breaks new ground by elevating the rural voice in the clean energy transition, positioning farmers not just as consumers, but as future renewable energy producers.
We will now commission additional research to further explore some of the initial findings and will share our research with the farming sector at events including The Great Yorkshire Show and with the Government, to open up conversations about the best ways of decarbonising the industry.
Richard Gueterbock Director of Foodchains
“We initially faced reluctance from the farming community to look at alternative fuels to diesel, but this research helped to break down barriers. It also demonstrated that farmers not only need to make changes when it comes to energy usage and sources, but that they can also be at the forefront of the transition to alternative fuels and low-carbon solutions.
We live in an era when urban domination of thinking and policy often means that farming communities feel sidelined and ignored, and we hope this report will ensure the rural voice is heard.”
Key benefits
- Farmers lack data on their energy use, highlighting a need for monitoring and education.
- Determined the farming types that could be at forefront of hydrogen use in the future.
- Identified a need for alternative distribution methods, such as virtual pipelines, to deliver hydrogen to off-grid rural users.
- Discovered that on-site, farm-based hydrogen generation could be a viable production method, which would provide an additional revenue stream for farmers and ensure that even the most rural communities could benefit from hydrogen.
- Gathered insights that challenge the assumption that rural decarbonisation should rely solely on electrification and advocated for tailored rural energy solutions.
