Developing Scotland’s hydrogen economy: a review of opportunities

Project Summary

Project overview:

This project led by Pale Blue Dot (now known as Storegga) in 2018 was intended to develop a range of project ideas and concepts related to hydrogen and energy transition opportunities, which leverage Oil and Gas sector related capabilities and assets, especially offshore infrastructure. The project will focus on ideas and concepts which could be further developed and submitted  for  public  funding  and/or  NZTC  member  funding,  potentially  in  a  phased manner.  

There is also an interest in ways to reduce the cost of hydrogen, explore the  potential  of  a  ‘hydrogen  clusters’  and  create  projects  aligned  with  the UK Clean Growth Strategy and Scottish Climate Change Action Plan 

A brainstorm approach  was  used  to  develop  a  list  of  37  distinct  and  reasonable ideas for hydrogen projects linked to the oil and gas industry. These were screened using the subjective assessment criteria; Link to upstream O&G, hydrogen benefit, fundability and technology innovation, resulting in a short list. 

The project also aimed to identify further hydrogen related projects and develop funding streams for them in and after October 2018. 

Key results:

The project has identified hydrogen projects which leverage Oil and Gas sector related capabilities and assets. 37 distinct ideas were identified, screened and prioritised to provide a Top 10. 

The top 10 selected ideas are:

1. Acorn hydrogen
2. H100 hydrogen onshore storage
3. Hydrogen storage in offshore pipelines
4. Offshore hydrogen from marine renewables
5. Shetland and Orkney hydrogen growth and integration with O&G terminals
6. Aberdeen hydrogen valley
7. NZTC Hydrogen competition
8. Diesel replacement on platforms
9. Policy support for hydrogen in the grid
10. Supply chain promotion

The list  of  ideas  were  prioritised  using  a  subjective scoring methodology, considering for each idea its link to upstream oil and gas, the benefit to future hydrogen projects, how fundable the idea is and its level of technological innovation.  

Industry value:  

Many of the projects link to or build upon existing hydrogen initiatives. There is considerable opportunity for the oil and gas supply chain to engage in hydrogen. 

Next Steps: 

This work is considered very preliminary, to establish ideas of potential interest to NZTC. It is expected that after selecting any ideas of interest, considerable further work is required to develop ideas, explore potential funding, seek interested partners and develop links with existing projects.