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Hydrogen

Scotland's fast-growing hydrogen infrastructure and massive renewable energy resource make it the ideal location for hydrogen investment. Learn about investment opportunities, support networks and strategic locations.

Did you know?

Scotland is on its way to becoming one of the world's leading hydrogen producers and exporters.

  • 126 terawatt hours (TWh)

     of renewable hydrogen production is Scotland's estimated electrolytic hydrogen market size.

  • 25 gigawatts (GW)

    of renewable or low carbon hydrogen production is Scotland's target for 2045.

  • 900 skilled companies

    have been identified as potential partners for Scotland's hydrogen supply chain.

Scotland: an ideal home for hydrogen energy investment

In Scotland, we're building a hydrogen economy. Now is the perfect time to join us and access the rewards of the hydrogen revolution.

By locating in Scotland, you'll benefit from:

  • Ambitious, market-driving targets for hydrogen production
  • Huge renewable energy resource suitable for large-scale hydrogen production
  • Lots of experience in advancing new energy technologies
  • Supportive government policy
  • Over 60 years of transferable skills and expertise as a global energy hub
  • A connected innovation network that will take your hydrogen research and development to the next level

Scotland's ambitious hydrogen production goals

We're moving away from fossil fuels. Instead, we want to make the most of our huge renewable energy generation capacity. This creates immediate opportunities in renewable and low carbon hydrogen, and in its supply chains. 

As well as producing hydrogen to use in Scotland, we also want to export renewable and low carbon hydrogen at scale to the rest of the UK and to Europe. 

Our world-first hydrogen demonstration projects are proof of our strong ambition to lead this sector. The creation of 13 Regional Hydrogen Hubs across Scotland will ensure we continue to lead the way.

Building on our wind power energy network

Scotland is a global energy hub. Our highly skilled workforce, renewable energy infrastructure and global supply chain make us the perfect partner for large, complex hydrogen projects.

And, thanks to our advanced innovation ecosystem, we’re already a world leader in creating new low-carbon solutions. Among these is the world’s first floating offshore wind farm. 

Our next goal is to become a hydrogen nation. This is your chance to join us early and start accessing the benefits of the hydrogen revolution now.

Scotland's hydrogen economy opportunities

With our hydrogen sector growing at a rapid pace, this is the best time to invest and gain an early-mover advantage. 

Read about some of the hydrogen investment opportunities you'll find in Scotland.

Scotland’s has a huge renewable energy resource, in particular from onshore and offshore wind. This creates massive potential for the early deployment of large-scale hydrogen production. 

With one of Europe’s largest Offshore Renewable Energy Zones and powerful wind speeds, we already have an enormous project pipeline for both onshore and offshore wind.

The recent ScotWind leasing round will add 28 gigawatts (GW) of new offshore wind capacity. The INTOG leasing round will add a further 5.5GW. Our total energy pipeline could exceed 50GW, which would enable a huge scaleup of electrolytic hydrogen production over the next decade. 

The size of the electrolytic hydrogen market in Scotland was recently estimated to be 126 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable hydrogen production. With this capacity, Scotland could be a key exporter of green energy to Europe.

Beyond wind energy resource, we have massive CO2 storage potential in depleted oil and gas reservoirs. This will enable carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) on a huge scale. 

As well as direct opportunities in hydrogen production and CCUS,  we're also creating opportunities to decarbonise industry, transport, heat and other sectors. 

There are lots of exciting opportunities for the manufacture of electrolysers in Scotland. 

We have a rapidly growing range of hydrogen projects, expertise and infrastructure. This creates a lot of demand for electrolysers. Our manufacturing sector is ready to support this demand. You'll be supported by strong investment throughout the sector.

You can also take advantage of our low carbon and green electricity to reduce your carbon footprint and embedded carbon in your final product. 

In 2020, 50TWh of electricity was generated in Scotland, with an average grid carbon intensity of 40.2g of CO2 per kWh — one of the lowest in Europe.

To accelerate Scotland’s hydrogen economy, we need innovative technologies and equipment to store, convert and transport hydrogen.

You’ll find that Scotland is the ideal location for CCUS projects. This is thanks to our proximity to offshore CO2 storage resources, readily available natural gas supplies, existing oil and gas infrastructure, and technical expertise.

You’ll benefit from a wealth of transferable skills from the oil and gas sector, including:

  • The highest concentration of gas handling experts in the UK
  • World-leading offshore and subsea expertise
  • Research and innovation facilities to support the development and deployment of new technologies

You’ll find lots opportunities for hydrogen-ready technologies for both domestic and commercial use in Scotland.

We're investigating how we can use hydrogen to decarbonise our gas grid by blending up to 20% hydrogen into the existing gas network, with the possibility of transitioning to 100% hydrogen in the future. This requires the development of innovative end-use appliances.

Global demand for renewable hydrogen is expected to grow steadily over the coming decades. Scotland is in prime position to become a top exporter of hydrogen to serve this growing global market.

The European Union has set a target to import 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030, with Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium expected to be major importers. 

By locating in Scotland, you can take advantage of our large supply of renewable resources, nearness to expected European centres of hydrogen demand, and our experienced and advanced marine and energy infrastructure, which is able to transport hydrogen at a low cost. 

Explore Scotland's Regional Hydrogen Hubs

Scotland is supporting the creation of 13 Regional Hydrogen Hubs across the country. These are host to the entire hydrogen life cycle, including production, storage and distribution, and end use. 

Led by industry experts, Scotland’s Hydrogen Hubs applications cover multiple sectors and end users. This creates a huge opportunity for investment.

Aberdeen has two hydrogen refuelling stations, fleets of hydrogen vehicles and many ambitious hydrogen production projects in planning.

The development of the new South Harbour, the UK’s largest marine infrastructure project, is currently underway. The nearby Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) will drive high-value manufacturing, research and development, and hydrogen development.

MACC Hydrogen Futures aims to establish a green hydrogen production and distribution site at Machrihanish Airbase on the Kintyre Peninsula.

Machrihanish has become a thriving community-owned business park, which offers over 1000 acres (more than 400 hectares) of unique properties, development land and assets, and its own airport. 

Hunterston, a former nuclear power station, is an ideal landing point for five nearby offshore wind farms. It offers lots of options for hydrogen production and export, strong grid connections, and existing marine infrastructure.

Prestwick Aerospace, home to Scotland’s aerospace sector, offers many opportunities to service the aviation sector — set to become one of the biggest hydrogen end users in Scotland.

The North of Scotland Hydrogen Programme aims to develop a state-of-the-art hub to produce, store and distribute green hydrogen to the local area, the UK and Europe.

Located close to large-scale renewable resources, there is a strong ambition for Cromarty to become a hydrogen economy. There's huge local demand for green hydrogen from distilleries, industry, transport and domestic applications.

Located in the centre of the UK, Dumfries and Galloway connects Scotland to the rest of the UK and Europe.

The region produces 11% of all Scotland’s renewable energy. It also offers easy access to existing gas transmission pipelines (including the Scotland to Northern Ireland Pipeline) and future hydrogen infrastructure. 

The area already has a hydrogen supply chain cluster, including hydrogen-enabled industrial boilers. Important development sites include Chapelcross, which offers up to 500 acres. 

Dundee is located near several offshore wind farms. It has ambitions to deploy hydrogen production, refuelling infrastructure and hydrogen vehicle fleets.

Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) is an important site for renewables. It's focused on driving innovation and research and development in sustainable mobility and low-carbon energy. MSIP offers a wide range of industrial spaces, cutting-edge research facilities and a Skills Centre of Excellence.

Fife’s world-first H100 hydrogen network will be deployed in 2024. It will allow 300 homes to use 100% renewable hydrogen. This will be produced by a 5 megawatt (MW) electrolyser connected to a nearby offshore wind turbine. 

The project is built on the legacy of Fife's pioneering Hydrogen Office, which launched back in 2011. It delivered a smart energy system based on renewables and electrolysis, and it used hydrogen to provide heat power and transport fuel.

The Sustainable Glasgow initiative aims to make Scotland’s largest city net zero by 2030. Projects include deploying hydrogen refuse collection vehicles and new refuelling infrastructure.

Nearby Whitelee wind farm, one of Europe’s largest onshore wind farms, will have the UK’s largest electrolyser (at 20MW), while the Hy2Go project proposes a green hydrogen production park off the M74 motorway.

Grangemouth, Scotland’s largest industrial area, offers lots of exciting opportunities to reduce carbon.

A new energy plant is due to be commissioned in late 2023. A large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production plant could export captured carbon offshore for permanent storage through the ACORN project. This project turns North Sea natural gas into clean-burning hydrogen, while capturing the CO2 emissions from that process.

Alongside this, SGN aims to repurpose the existing pipeline to transport hydrogen from Grangemouth to Edinburgh.

The Flotta Hydrogen Hub is a proposed industrial-scale green hydrogen production facility on an existing oil terminal in Orkney.

This project uses offshore wind. It could export large quantities of hydrogen to Europe and the UK gas grid at St Fergus, forming the foundation for an international maritime green hydrogen refuelling hub.

The Scottish Borders is in the perfect location to become a leading hydrogen hub. The area boasts large onshore windfarms and easy access to the east coast’s offshore windfarms.

Main gas transmission pipelines to England cross the area, as will new ‘Project Union’ infrastructure. Local engineering firms also offer strong electrolyser supply chain potential.

The ambitious ORION Clean Energy Project will turn Shetland into a world-leading clean energy hub.

Green hydrogen (from nearby wind, wave and tidal resources) will power homes, businesses and vehicles, electrify oil and gas installations, and serve export markets using existing infrastructure.

The Outer Hebrides Energy Hub will maximise the area’s large onshore and offshore wind resources. It will produce enough green hydrogen to power the islands and to export to UK and international markets.

Hydrogen industry support

If you locate in Scotland, you’ll have the help of a supportive government determined to achieve a net zero future.

You’ll benefit from several ambitious government policies and initiatives which will drive Scotland’s energy transition:

  • Energy Transition Fund – a £62 million fund to support businesses in the oil, gas and energy sectors as they grow and diversify to help deliver a net zero future
  • Emerging Energy Technologies Fund – a £100 million fund for Scotland’s renewable hydrogen industry, with a further £80 million to fund the development of CCUS technologies

Centres of excellence that support hydrogen companies

Our centres of excellence and innovation exist to help businesses do incredible things.

Here are just some of the centres that could help transform your hydrogen business:

Read reports on Scotland's hydrogen opportunity

If you'd like to learn more about the current hydrogen opportunity, Scottish Enterprise (Scotland's national economic development agency) has supported a set of detailed studies on Scotland's hydrogen production and end-use potential.

Read the hydrogen reports 

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Got a question?

If you'd like to learn more about Scotland's hydrogen landscape, get in touch with one of our expert advisers.

Phone: +44 300 013 2734 opens in a new window