Green Hydrogen Glasgow

Industrial collaboration and government funding are paving the way for the creation of commercial-scale green hydrogen production in Glasgow that will ensure transportation and industrial sectors can access zero-emission hydrogen in the transition away from fossil fuels. By using renewable electricity and water as inputs to the hydrogen production process, this clean, green form of hydrogen will be critical in reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions across the economy.

Last year, the Green Hydrogen for Scotland Consortium – made up of ourselves, ScottishPower, and BOC – secured £9.4 million of funding from the Energy Innovation Portfolio competition run by the UK Government Department of Business Energy Innovation and Skills (BEIS). The Energy Innovation Portfolio competition looked for innovative, replicable large-scale energy storage solutions which could provide a market competitive alternative to conventional commercial large-scale energy storage technologies.

The funding will be used for a 10MW electrolyser and associated four tonnes of storage in what is the first phase of development for ScottishPower’s 20MW Whitelee Windfarm hydrogen production and storage facility to be sited near Glasgow. The facility aims to supply green hydrogen made from wind power to the commercial market by the end of 2023. When operational, it will be capable of producing up to eight tonnes of green hydrogen a day. That’s equivalent to fuelling over 550 buses to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh and back again each day. 

The project is designed to provide carbon-free transport and clean air for communities across the city and wider central belt region, with Glasgow aiming to become the first net-zero city in the UK by 2030. Transport is a key area to target in order to achieve these aims as, according to Scotland’s Department of Transport, 1.70 billion vehicle miles were travelled in the Glasgow city area in 2020. Pre-pandemic, this figure peaked at almost 2.250 billion vehicle miles per annum. Of these vehicle miles, some two-thirds are travelled on trunk roads, and the vast majority were powered by fossil fuels.