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The Scottish Government is funding the Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, to accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and enterprises to stimulate innovation in the hydrogen sector.

There are several Regional Hydrogen Hubs developing in Scotland. We have provided up to £15m to support the development of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub which is now developing as a joint venture between Aberdeen City Council and Bp.

Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub presents an important opportunity to deliver a commercially investable, green hydrogen production facility focussed initially on the decarbonisation of transport and phased to grow into other markets such as industrial heat.

We are building the evidence base to help support other hydrogen hubs to develop in Scotland, examining hydrogen production and potential demand across Scotland’s geography through a number of key reports, such as ‘Hydrogen demand in Scotland: a mapping of industrial and transport applications’ which can be found here and a detailed report focussing specifically on the distillery sector which can be found here .

Data from these reports is also included in Scotland’s Hydrogen Asset online map .

We also published a report last year on the potential capability and interest in Scotland in developing a SAF sector, which could become a major end-use of hydrogen. That report can be found here .

Further engagement in support of hydrogen hub development is ongoing.

As set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan, hydrogen in the transport sector could act as a complementary energy source alongside electrification, providing an option to parts of the transport sector such as heavy-duty vehicles, when full electrification is challenging. We support the rollout of infrastructure needed for hydrogen vehicles to operate in Scotland: Aberdeen City has two hydrogen refuelling stations.

In December 2023, UK Ministers confirmed their positive strategic policy decision to support blending of up to 20% hydrogen into GB gas distribution networks. We welcomed this announcement and now continue to urge UK Government to make progress and provide a timetable for future decisions on blending and the role of 100% hydrogen in the gas grid to provide clarity for us and for stakeholders.

The recommendations of the Transmission Network Short Life Working Group will soon be published on the Scottish Government website, alongside detail of the programme of work associated with the actions previously accepted by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the Scottish Regulatory Steering Group, comprised of key regulators, to assess regulatory requirements for the development of the hydrogen sector in Scotland. We are working with UK and Scottish regulators to ensure that action is taken to address identified issues and create a clear regulatory framework for hydrogen projects.

The Scottish Government and our Enterprise Agencies support hydrogen developers and businesses across Scotland to grow a pipeline of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production projects in Scotland and secure the accompanying supply chain opportunities. Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than the 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity we hope to have operational by 2030.

We are engaging closely with the Cromarty Hydrogen Project (Storegga) 10.6MW and Scottish Power Whitelees Project 7.1MW both of whom are targeting industrial heat as an offtake for their hydrogen and were successful in their applications for hydrogen business model support from UKG in the first round allocation (HAR1). We provided letters of support for a further 10 projects in Scotland that applied for the UKG’S HAR 2 round.

Alongside electrification, hydrogen will be a key part of the net zero journey, particularly in transitioning many hard-to-abate sectors such as industry. The Scottish Government is developing a place-based, industry specific Just Transition Plan for the Grangemouth industrial cluster, as we committed to doing in our 2023 Programme for Government. The Plan will outline the strategic long-term future of the industrial cluster and a range of possibilities for operations at Grangemouth in 2045, including low-carbon hydrogen manufacture, carbon capture and storage, as well as wider Just Transition outcomes for the workforce, community and surrounding environment.

Beyond this, we have produced a detailed report on the distillery sector which can be found here .

We are engaging closely with the Cromarty Hydrogen Project (Storegga) 10.6MW and Scottish Power Whitelees Project 7.1MW both of whom are targeting industrial heat as an offtake for their renewable hydrogen and were successful in their applications for support from the UK Government via the first allocation round of the hydrogen production business model.

In addition, the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) has match-funded support grants for feasibility and engineering studies which can allow industrial manufacturers to investigate how they could use hydrogen to decarbonise their operations.

The Scottish Government has ongoing engagement with the UK Government in relation to international hydrogen engagement and the development of the export opportunity.

We are building the evidence base to help support hydrogen off-take across multiple sectors in Scotland, examining both hydrogen production and demand across Scotland’s geography through a number of key reports, such as ‘Hydrogen demand in Scotland: a mapping of industrial and transport applications’ which can be found here and a detailed report focussing specifically on the distillery sector which can be found here .