Scottish renewables partnership to fuel green hydrogen-powered vehicle fleets

A new partnership in Scotland will help to fuel buses, ferries and trains across the country with green hydrogen. Hydrogen is especially suitable for transportation and the intention of the partnership is to create an end-to-end clean fuel delivered to nationwide refuelling stations.

The three participating partners straddle the renewables industry: renewable energy company, Scottish Power; industrial gas company, BOC, and hydrogen electrolyser manufacturers, ITM Power. The collaboration is called Green Hydrogen for Scotland and is geared towards helping Scotland meet its net zero target of 2045, five years earlier than that set by the UK government.

The partnership’s first project, Green Hydrogen for Glasgow, sees a facility on the outskirts of Glasgow powered by electricity from Scottish Power’s solar and wind farms to operate a 10MW electrolyser owned by ITM Power. The facility will be operated by BOC who will help transport the hydrogen produced by the electrolyser to local authorities, factories and transport depots across Scotland.

The process is depicted in this infographic:

Glasgow aims to be the first city in the UK with net-zero emissions by 2030 and the Green Hydrogen for Glasgow project hopes to be supplying hydrogen to the commercial market within two years. Production of green hydrogen is a zero emission process and is anticipated to become an important part of the fight to minimise the impact of climate change.

Hydrogen is the fuel of choice for decarbonising heavy transport by offering a better vehicle power-to-weight ratio than electricity which is ideal for smaller vehicles such as cars. A hydrogen-powered bus can be refuelled in about 10 minutes providing a range of over 200 miles and the only emission from the vehicle is clean water in addition to being virtually noiseless.

Lindsay McQuade, CEO of Scottish Power Renewables, described the project as “a game-changer…a pioneering partnership [offering fleet operators and industry] a packaged solution that brings all of the pieces of the jigsaw together – production, distribution, supply”.

The electrolyser proposed by ITM would be among the largest seen in Europe and their involvement is subject to signing a memorandum of understanding. Once the Glasgow site is up-and-running, production and refuelling stations will be added across the rest of the country.

This week, trade associations representing UK solar, renewables and technology companies encouraged their members to find mutually beneficial common ground on projects.