Politics: Powering ahead with hydrogen
Last week, I had a very useful and informative visit to BP to learn more about their plans for the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub.
The proposed Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub is perhaps best described as a scalable green hydrogen production, storage and distribution facility in the city powered by renewable energy.
Aberdeen City Council and BP have formed a joint venture – under the name of BP Aberdeen Hydrogen Energy Ltd – to deliver the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub.
Phase one of the project would involve building a hydrogen re-fuelling facility for buses, cars, vans and trucks, powered by a solar farm and linked by an underground solar grid connection.
The renewable energy produced by the solar farm will be used to produce green hydrogen via a process called electrolysis which splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
The solar farm and hydrogen facility will be on separate sites but linked by an underground solar grid connection. The hydrogen site has a substation grid connection to power it in periods of low solar power production, while excess power can be returned to the grid when high solar power is generated.
The current project ambition is to have the facility producing hydrogen by the end of 2024.
But aside from green energy production, the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub programme aims to help contribute towards Aberdeen City Council’s ambitions to create a climate positive city and build inclusive growth by supporting hydrogen supply chain development, skills and training, and wider community benefits.
The Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub team is engaging with industry bodies, supply chain companies and education institutions to help bring about these benefits.
Separate from all of this are several other workstreams and proposals from various companies aimed at taking advantage of solar and wind power across the north-east and, indeed, the North Sea.
While due process is currently underway for the projects I’ve mentioned – and as an MP I have no say or role in the planning aspects of these – there is no doubt that should these projects come to fruition, they will play a huge part in securing the North-east as the renewable energy capital of Europe.
The Just Transition will be driven by what happens in the north-east over the coming years.
The importance of that was underlined when First Minister Humza Yousaf paid an early visit here just shortly after being elected in April to announce more Scottish Government funding for the Just Transition, the half a billion pound energy transition fund exclusively for North-east Scotland.
Equally important is the fact that it is a transition – anyone who argues for the production of oil and gas from the North Sea to cease immediately doesn’t have a credible plan for meeting our existing energy needs.
On that point, it is therefore incredibly disappointing that the Westminster Government hasn’t stepped-up to the mark and matched the funding being provided by the Scottish Government.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised however, as Westminster has also repeatedly ignored Scotland's renewable energy potential, snubbing the north-east's Carbon Capture project since 2014.
It will take time for some of these new technologies to mature. But one thing of which we can be absolutely certain, and that is that her in the north-east, we have the workforce with the skills honed over many years in the traditional energy sector to bring that expertise to the new technologies which will power the 21st century.
