Hydrogen Backbone Link: Connecting Scotland to Europe

Scotland, with its vast onshore and offshore renewable resources, has the ambition to become a net exporter of green energy by 2045. The Scottish government funded Hydrogen Backbone Link (HBL) project is a key early enabler for this, providing cost-effective transportation to market for Scottish hydrogen producers and supporting the transition to a low-carbon energy system.

The HBL project focuses on the critical hydrogen transport infrastructure required to deliver a cost-effective pipeline solution. The project positions Scotland as a leader in pan-European hydrogen infrastructure development, catering to the increasing global demand for hydrogen while supporting national decarbonisation goals. It could support up to 300,000 jobs in Scotland alone by 2045 and enable Scotland to meet up to 10% of Europe’s projected hydrogen import demand by the mid 2030s.

Three key learnings emerged from this phase of the project focusing on:

• Repurposing and Routing
• Economics
• Enabling Technology

To fully realise this opportunity, action is required across six key areas:

• Rapid acceleration of public and private investment
• Continued investment in hydrogen and wind deployments to deliver security of supply
• Develop a National Energy Storage Strategy
• Cross border policy and standards alignment to enable safe, efficient export
• Financial support to accelerate technology development and infrastructure deployment