The Green Hydrogen for Scotland partnership has secured £9.4m of funding through the Storage at Scale competition run by the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Greg Hands, minister of state for business, energy and clean growth, announced the funding today at ScottishPower’s Whitelee windfarm where the 20MW hydrogen production and storage facility will be built.
The facility is expected to make enough green hydrogen to supply up to 500 buses travelling to and from Glasgow to Edinburgh each day.
Greg Hands said: “Innovative green technologies like this pioneering hydrogen project here in Whitelee will drive forward the UK’s green industrial revolution and support us as we shift to a clean energy future.
“Supported by £9.4 million in UK government funding, it will bring green economic growth to Glasgow, and put Scotland at the heart of plans to create a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK.”
Alister Jack, Secretary of state for Scotland, added: “This tremendous investment at Whitelee Wind Farm illustrates how serious the UK Government is about supporting projects that will see us achieve net zero by 2050.
“In the weeks following COP26 in Glasgow, it has never been more important to champion projects like this one, which embraces new hydrogen technology while creating highly-skilled jobs. We can, and will, achieve a greener, cleaner future.”
Green Hydrogen for Scotland
The funding will support the first phase of development of the 20MW project which is the first project to be delivered by the Green Hydrogen for Scotland partnership.
The partnership, made up of ScottishPower, ITM Power, and BOC, is currently going through the planning process for the new facility and aims to have green hydrogen available to the commercial market by 2023.
The green hydrogen facility would be powered by the mix of technologies at Whitelee which includes a new solar farm, battery energy storage system and the existing wind farm.
Barry Carruthers, ScottishPower’s hydrogen director, said: “Green hydrogen production at Whitelee is our flagship project, demonstrating how clean, zero-emission hydrogen can be produced and used at a commercial scale.
“Glasgow has ambitions to be the first city in the UK to achieve Net Zero by 2030 and green hydrogen being available by 2023 to support heavy industries and fleets to decarbonise in and around the city will be critical to this goal being achieved.”
Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power Ltd, said: “We are very pleased to be a partner in Green Hydrogen for Scotland and this first project, Green Hydrogen for Glasgow, will see the deployment of the largest electrolyser to date in the UK.”
Jim Mercer, business president, BOC UK & Ireland, added: “The Green Hydrogen for Glasgow project is both innovative and exciting.
“It will help to shape the future of energy storage and demonstrate the value of hydrogen to Scotland’s growing low-carbon economy. This project will accelerate development across multiple disciplines – from production and storage, to transportation and end use.”
Image: Whitlee Wind Farm (Credit: What’s On East Renfrewshire)
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