In a sign of the difficulties that authorities may face implementing energy transition actions, a planned trial of the use of hydrogen for domestic heating in the town of Whitby, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK, has been cancelled.

Energy efficiency minister Lord Martin Callanan said that “there was not strong local support” for the scheme, which was first put forward in 2021. The local minister of parliament, Labour’s Justin Madders, said of the cancellation that it “is clear that asking people to try experimental new forms of energy consumption for their homes will not work unless basic questions about safety, efficacy and cost can be answered from the start”. As the Financial Times reports, residents had objected to the disruption that the installation of hydrogen boilers would bring, and were also concerned about the long-term costs after the end of the trial, which was due to run over three years.

Residents were also given the choice of electric heating, and, after some concernsm were additionally offered an opt out from the trial, but concerns persisted sufficiently to force its abandonment. However, a trial in Redcar, North Yorkshire, is still on course to begin, with Northern Gas Networks proposing to supply around 2,000 homes with hydrogen. This follows 10 months of community consultation, the results of which show that 95% of residents and landlords feel positive or neutral towards the trial.

It may be the design of implementation, communications, or demographics, or a mix of all three that has been the difference in the two trials to date. The cancellation of the Whitby trial should be a concern for authorities and something to learn from as the need for the energy transition intensifies.