Calls for hubs to turn Scotland into leading hydrogen producer

The UK’s Net Zero Technology Centre says dedicated energy hubs are the backbone to help scale Scotland’s hydrogen production and export potential.

Its Energy Hubs: Fill the Backbone report issues the following recommendations: 

• Rapid investment targeted at next-generation technologies and manufacturing processes to accelerate floating offshore wind.
• Innovations in electrolyser technologies to improve the efficiency of hydrogen production while reducing system costs.
• Development of highly efficient energy storage facilities with GWh capacities.
• Optimising the integration of energy vectors within Energy Hubs, along with exploring further opportunities in alternative fuels and byproducts.

Phase two of the project will continue to focus on the challenges of hydrogen and alternative fuels production while exploring the concept of a ‘Super Hub’.

This will involve integrating several large-scale Energy Hubs to optimise their combined performance and achieve economies of scale, enhancing competitive export potential.

The Energy Hubs Project received funding from the Scottish Government’s Energy Transition Fund and matched funding from industry.

It complements the Centre’s Hydrogen Backbone Link project, which demonstrates the feasibility of exporting 0.9Mt of hydrogen per year from Scotland to Europe via a new dedicated hydrogen pipeline.

Several large-scale Energy Hubs, housing the necessary facilities for hydrogen production and its derivatives, will be crucial to the success of the Hydrogen Backbone Link.