The government has awarded funding to what will become the UK’s largest power-to-hydrogen energy storage project.
On 22 November, BEIS announced that £9.4mn had been awarded to the Whitelee green hydrogen project. This will see the UK’s largest electrolyser developed and situated alongside ScottishPower’s Whitelee Windfarm, producing and storing hydrogen to supply local transport providers with zero carbon fuel. It will help to create high skilled jobs, while driving progress towards decarbonising the UK’s transport sector.
The project has been developed by ITM Power and BOC, together with ScottishPower’s hydrogen division. The facility should be able to produce enough green hydrogen per day – around 2.5 to 4 tonnes – to provide the equivalent of enough zero carbon fuel for 225 buses that are travelling to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh each day.
The government also announced that an additional £2.25mn in funding will support the development of hydrogen skills and standards in the UK. This funding, through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, will see the British Standards Institution (BSI) develop technical standards for hydrogen projects, and a consortium including Energy and Utility Skills and the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers to establish new standards and training specifications to facilitate the training of hydrogen gas installers.
