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NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion

Scotland leads the way in hydrogen production

26 November 2021
Written by Martyn Tulloch

The draft Hydrogen Action Plan released this month sets out the Scottish Government’s strategic approach to help Scotland become a leading nation in hydrogen production. The action plan will align the focus of energy companies, supply chains, developers, and universities to work together to meet the ambition of 5GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 and 25GW by 2045.  

As we pave the way to achieving our climate change goals, blue and green hydrogen will play an essential role in producing clean energy. However, as it currently stands, Scotland produces primarily grey hydrogen. Therefore, action must be taken to quickly transition from grey, through blue, to green hydrogen to produce hydrogen at scale and achieve net zero. 

Recent work undertaken by the Net Zero Technology Centre and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (referenced within the draft Hydrogen Action Plan) examined the opportunities and challenges for Scotland in developing early hydrogen production. It highlighted the key characteristics of a site to support large-scale renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production facilities. The draft hydrogen action plan supports these development opportunities announcing that regional hydrogen projects would be backed by £100m of the £180m Emerging Energy Technologies Fund. This funding will accelerate large-scale hydrogen production, allow for the rapid development and deployment of technologies, and reduce the Levelised Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) to deliver a just transition.   

Although the action plan focuses on Scotland’s hydrogen economy, it seeks to explore hydrogen export opportunities to Germany. Our previous studies for Scottish Enterprise and the One North Sea and North Sea Energy initiatives with TNO have identified some of these export opportunities and highlighted the importance of cross border collaboration to enable and develop Scotland’s hydrogen economy. We are excited to be a part of these initiatives, deliver the Energy Hubs and Hydrogen Backbone Link projects and work across the supply chain to achieve Scotland’s 2045 goals. 

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