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Transport Scotland has contracted Heriot-Watt University to work with road haulage fleets and stakeholders to assess where initial enroute charging and refuelling infrastructure for zero emission HGVs will be needed.

The Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, convened by Transport Scotland, includes a working group focused on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. The Taskforce included hydrogen truck manufacturers and fleets interested in hydrogen trucks.

We are working with Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies to develop the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan and this will be informed by the findings of commissioned reports on identifying priority international markets for Scottish companies to target and assesses demand for hydrogen and hydrogen products in North West Europe. We are also supporting Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) work on the Hydrogen Backbone Link project seeking to establish the case for a hydrogen export pipeline from Scotland to mainland Europe.

We have supported several trade delegations including to Dubai Expo and, in January this year, Hyvolution in France, to which it is planned to return next year. We have supported visit programmes of several inward delegations, including from India, Singapore and German States.

Scottish Development International (SDI) has taken a strategic and targeted approach to attracting direct foreign investment to Scotland. It is focused on attracting hydrogen producers, supply chain companies and end users. Our hydrogen opportunity is being promoted internationally by SDI’s overseas offices and by relevant UK Government departments. This has catalysed visits to Scotland by companies, innovation partnerships with universities, a strong project concept pipeline and initial investments.

We are engaging and supporting companies throughout Scotland that are already undertaking or are interested in hydrogen opportunities, as well as others with potentially transferrable skills and currently not active in the sector to raise awareness of potential opportunity areas. Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies are capturing companies’ capabilities and compiling a soon to be publicly available online database to provide a useful tool for supply chain, project developers and investors keen to understand and work with Scotland’s hydrogen supply chain.

Scottish Enterprise recently ran a year-long Hydrogen Expert Support programme in which 33 Scottish companies participated, including manufacturers, technology developers or technical service providers seeking to diversify into or grow in the hydrogen sector. Scottish Enterprise funded workshops with an expert consultancy which provided each company with a tailored report giving them information on the sector and recommendations on what steps they could take to get involved based on their capabilities and ambitions.

The Scottish Government and Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies are also working with partners and stakeholders such as NECCUS and the Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association to further the development of a hydrogen economy cluster for Scotland.

The Hydrogen Sector Export Plan will consider the short-term export opportunities around skills and the supply chain, as well as the economic opportunity for Scotland represented by the export of renewable hydrogen in the longer term.

To support the development of the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan, the Scottish Government have commissioned research to investigate low-carbon hydrogen demand scenarios in North-West European regions and sectors up to 2045.

This work will sit alongside research being conducted on the economic competitiveness of hydrogen in various sectors and end-uses, such as for aviation transport or for refineries, to establish the most likely off-taker markets for hydrogen and the current best estimates for the likely size of these markets.

Research has also been commissioned to map the key markets and opportunities for Scottish hydrogen supply chain goods and services. Together, this research will provide a robust evidence base demonstrating economic opportunity for hydrogen in Europe according to current available data.

The Hydrogen Sector Export Plan will be published later this year alongside a suite of research, including the North Sea Hydrogen Alliance project conducted by NZTC in partnership with Cruh21 which will match Scottish hydrogen production with German demand.

Given the increased interest in hydrogen imports from across Europe, we continue to work with the UK Government to establish key strategic partnership with Scotland’s near northern neighbours that can assist the development of a North Sea hydrogen corridor for the production and export of hydrogen into the North of Europe and beyond.

We recognise that international co-operation will be key to developing future hydrogen markets and their supporting infrastructure and we will continue to seek out opportunities to collaborate through projects such as the Hydrogen Backbone Link and the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland to Rotterdam project .

We are engaging with key European ports such as the Ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg which we expect to become major hydrogen hubs. This includes working with the Port of Rotterdam and other strategic partners on Phase 2 of the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland Project (LHyTS), led by NZTC. The project is a feasibility assessment for a pilot trial for the shipment of LOHC from Scotland to the northern European mainland via Rotterdam, laying the foundations for establishing the viability of a strategic export route for hydrogen between Scotland and the EU.

We have also funded the Net Zero Technology Centre's Hydrogen Backbone Link project to assess the potential to connect Scotland to a European Hydrogen Backbone by either repurposing and optimising existing pipeline infrastructure or through the development of new infrastructure. Phase 1 of the study is now complete, with work on Phase 2 currently ongoing. A key focus of Phase 1 included the consideration of pipeline routing, identifying a preferred option connecting four production points (Sullom Voe, Flotta Terminal, St Fergus and Nigg Bay), with Emden in Germany.

In support of the development and publication of the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan, the Scottish Government has also commissioned several research studies. This includes the North Sea Hydrogen Alliance project led by NZTC in partnership with the German consultancy Cruh21, and the German umbrella organisation AquaVentus, focussing on investigating pipeline infrastructure between Scotland and Germany; and matching Scottish hydrogen production to German hydrogen demand. The project will help to strengthen existing ties between Scotland and Germany, building the case for hydrogen export from Scotland, and solidify the case for infrastructure investment in both Scottish and German Waters.