The government has awarded more than £9.4 million to a green hydrogen project in Scotland as part of its Storage at Scale competition launched in January 2019.
The Green Hydrogen for Scotland consortium, comprised of Scottish Power, ITM Power and BOC, has received the grant to build a 10MW proton exchange membrane electrolyser at Scottish Power’s Whitelee onshore wind farm near Glasgow.
The facility will include 5 tonnes of hydrogen storage capacity, providing 200MWh of long-duration chemical energy storage. The electrolyser will be able to produce between 2.5 and 4 tonnes of green hydrogen per day using surplus renewable electricity from Whitelee – currently the UK’s largest onshore windfarm with a generation capacity of 539MW.
The electrolyser and hydrogen storage are the first phase in the development of a large 20MW facility, for which a planning application was submitted in April. The consortium is aiming to begin supplying hydrogen to the commercial market by the end of 2023.
Graham Cooley, chief executive of electrolyser manufacturer ITM Power, 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.”
Scottish Power hydrogen director Barry Carruthers said: “Now COP26 has ended, we need to continue to move forward, taking action to invest in the clean, green energy the UK needs to reach Net Zero.
“As principal partner for the conference we welcome this investment in a blend of renewable electricity generation and green hydrogen production promises to highlight the multiple ways in which society can decarbonise by using these technologies here and now.”
Jim Mercer, business president for industrial gas producer BOC UK & Ireland, said: “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.”
The Green Hydrogen for Glasgow project is the second winner to be announced from the government’s Storage at Scale competition after Highview Power was awarded £10 million in June 2020 to build a 50MW liquid air energy storage system, branded a CryoBattery, at Carrington Village in Great Manchester. The facility, which will have a minimum storage capacity of 250MWh, is also expected to enter operation in 2023.