UK and Taiwan Collaborate on Ideating Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies

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Co-hosted by the British Office in Taipei and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, the inaugural UK-Taiwan Hydrogen Forum took place virtually on 21^st October, with supports by Taiwan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Partnership and Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association. The Forum brought together more than 100 UK and Taiwanese hydrogen and fuel cell companies with 11 companies presenting at the Forum to explore possible areas for collaboration.

Details on the Forum

To mark the occasion, the UK and Taiwan’s respective hydrogen trade associations, the Taiwan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Partnership and Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), committing to improving bilateral engagement, supporting skills development, education and outreach activities, and coordinating industry-related information and events. This MoU signing was witnessed by John Dennis, Representative of British Office Taipei, Lord Faulkner, UK Trade Envoy to Taiwan and YU Cheng-Wei, Director General of Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In August 2021, the UK Government published a hydrogen strategy that sets out the approach to developing a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK to meet its ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. The strategy also includes a chapter on how the UK is working with other leading hydrogen nations to drive global leadership on the development of low carbon hydrogen to support the world’s transition to net zero.

A Needed Collaboration

Commenting on the Forum, John Dennis, Representative of British Office Taipei said, “This is just the right time for the UK and Taiwan to come together and explore closer collaboration on this fuel of the future. UK-Taiwan collaboration is growing fast in low carbon energy development, especially offshore wind. And Taiwan’s domestic fuel cell industry which is already a vital part of global hydrogen supply chains is increasingly strong and innovative.”

Emerging UK-Taiwan collaboration opportunities include the deployment of hydrogen in medium-to-long distance public road transportation, the production of green hydrogen from offshore wind, and partnering on project opportunities in third markets where the UK and Taiwan share a common interest.

YU Cheng-Wei, Director-General of Bureau of Energy, MOEA also commented stating, “Moving from the ‘energy transition’ to the ‘net-zero transition’ by 2050, Taiwan has included hydrogen energy in our decarbonisation plans to effectively reduce carbon emissions in the energy and industrial sectors. In addition, MOEA has established a “Hydrogen Energy Promotion Group” to expand the promotion of the application and development of hydrogen energy. We will continue to pay attention to the global development trend of hydrogen energy and actively promote the decarbonisation of energy and industry.”