Support For Green Hydrogen - £7m Funding Available To Kick Start Local Projects

16th September 2024

Businesses will be able to bid for a share of up to £7 million of Scottish Government funding to help kick start green hydrogen projects across Scotland.

The funding will help cover the development stage costs of green hydrogen production projects with production capacity of between 5 - 400 megawatts - the equivalent to the production of enough hydrogen to heat at least 200 to over 16,000 homes.

Support will also be available for work supporting the hydrogen supply chain and storage solutions, and will play an important role in helping the industry scale up as it responds to market demand.

Organisations have until the end of the month to apply for a maximum of £2 million of match-funding from the scheme which has been co-developed with Scottish Enterprise, who will facilitate and manage the fund. It complements a total of almost £7 million from the Scottish Government's Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, which has supported 31 projects across the country since 2023.

Acting Minister for Climate Action Alasdair Allan said: "Our energy sector, and the development of green hydrogen in particular, will play a crucial role in growing Scotland's economy and delivering on our net zero targets.

"This is due to our capability to generate so much renewable energy which is crucial to the process of making green hydrogen.

"This funding - which will help support the development of green hydrogen projects and hydrogen hubs across the country, will, in time, help unlock opportunities in hydrogen for use and export and to power the clean energy intensive industries of the future.

"It demonstrates that Scotland is well positioned to lead the way in developing renewable energy in a way that delivers economic benefits and it also shows our commitment to help grow the hydrogen sector, one of the five priority areas set out in our new Green Industrial Strategy."

Scottish Enterprise Director of Energy Transition, Suzanne Sosna, said: “This new fund will help new green hydrogen projects get off the ground, something that is critical if we are to build the hydrogen economy as we aim to in Scotland.

“Renewable energy, including green hydrogen, has the potential to transform Scotland's economy and Scottish Enterprise is fully committed to helping hydrogen production, storage and offtake businesses as part of that."

Organisations have until 27th September to submit expressions of interest in the fund. More information about the funding and how to apply https://www.scottish-enterprise.com/support-for-businesses/funding-and-grants/business-grants-and-funding-calls/funding-for-development-of-hydrogen-projects

Hydrogen Innovation Scheme: Successful projects
https://www.gov.scot/publications/emerging-energy-technologies-fund-hydrogen-innovation-scheme-successful-projects/

Hydrogen Innovation Scheme: funding awarded
A total of 31 projects have been awarded a share of £7 million, all now operational.

Stream 1 projects
Project: H2GEN
Lead organisation: Cygnas Solutions
Description: Feasibility study of H2GEN hydrogen storage system.
Funding awarded: £147,610

Project: HyBrine
Lead organisation: sHYp BV Ltd
Description: Feasibility study for project HyBrine which aims to achieve low cost, efficient, and sustainable H2 production by using seawater as the water source and through technology advancements that avoid the need for desalination systems and enable more durable and reliable electrolysis.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: HyFloat
Lead organisation: Wood Group
Description: Feasibility study for HyFloat, a floating wind platform that houses renewable hydrogen production equipment and stores the hydrogen within the buoyant structure.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Combining grid constrained wind and solar with quarry water supply for green hydrogen production
Lead organisation: Chartmount Holdings Ltd
Description: Study which will examine the feasibility of utilising multiple renewable electricity sources to power an electrolyser that would use water in a co-located quarry to produce green hydrogen.
Funding awarded: £63,165

Project: Green Hydrogen and Oxygen Supply from Tidal energy(GHOST)
Lead organisation: Nova Innovation Ltd
Description: Study examining the feasibility of using tidal energy around the Shetland Island of Yell for the production of hydrogen and oxygen for local use, including as rocket fuel for the Saxavord Space Centre.

Funding awarded: £131,017
Project: Mobile hydrogen unit to utilise grid curtailed generation
Lead organisation: Temporis Capital Ltd
Description: Study that will investigate the feasibility of utilising a portable green hydrogen electrolyser to produce hydrogen using power from renewable generators in Scotland during grid curtailment
Funding awarded: £110,420

Project: HyDesal
Lead organisation: Waterwhelm Ltd
Description: Study to explore routes to improve the membrane design of Waterwhelm's desalination technology and the feasibility of implementing this improved technology with commercially-available renewable hydrogen production units using waste heat
Funding awarded: £149,759

Project: GHigha: Green Hydrogen for the Isle of Gigha
Lead organisation: BPP Technical Services Ltd
Description: Concept design for a Green Hydrogen Production System with the Isle of Gigha as the case study.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Next-generation optical solution for the detection of hydrogen contaminants
Lead organisation: Chromacity Ltd
Description: Study to develop improved process controls for the hydrogen supply chain through the detection of contaminants/pollution.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Hybrid Hydrogen Storage and Distribution
Lead organisation: Glacier Energy Services Holdings Ltd
Description: Feasibility study into the optimum design of low-cost, lightweight hydrogen storage and distribution vessels.
Funding awarded: £149,995

Project: Glasgow Airport Hydrogen Innovation Hub
Lead organisation: Glasgow Airport Ltd
Description: Study to test the feasibility of a hydrogen production, storage and distribution hub at Glasgow Airport
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Feasibility of Explainable AI to support decision making as applied to hydrogen generation
Lead organisation: Intelligent Plant Ltd
Description: Study to develop a decision support system and use explainable artificial intelligence to support logistics solutions for hydrogen production
Funding awarded: £148,879

Project: Tank Testing of Hydrogen Offshore Transfer System (TestHOTS)
Lead organisation: Jebb Smith Ltd
Description: Feasibility study to refine the design and functionality of a land-sea interface for hydrogen transport and distribution
Funding awarded: £149,289

Project: Optimisation of Proton Conducting Ceramic Tubular Cells for Efficient Hydrogen Production
Lead organisation: ZEM Fuel Systems Limited
Description: Feasibility study to explore the creation of efficient hydrogen production from steam to hydrogen to provide a low cost, efficient, durable, and zero carbon production mechanism
Funding awarded: £148,028

Project: Advanced Decoupled Electrolysis Demonstrator Project
Lead organisation: Clyde Hydrogen Systems Ltd
Description: Project to demonstrate novel technology for the innovative low-cost, efficient and sustainable production of renewable hydrogen
Funding awarded: £515,000

Project: Discontinuum Modelling for a Lined Rock Hydrogen Storage Shaft
Lead organisation: Gravitricity Ltd
Description: Study to examine the feasibility of storing hydrogen in a purpose sunk shaft within a rock shaft with mixed geology.
Funding awarded: £149,464

Project: Orkney sea water electrolysis project
Lead organisation: Locogen Ltd
Description: Study to investigate the feasibility of using seawater as the feedwater to an electrolyser system.
Funding awarded: £112,838

Project: H2Shore - Hydrogen coastal storage and distribution
Lead organisation: Port of Aberdeen
Description: Study to investigate the feasibility of establishing underwater hydrogen storage at the South Harbour at Port of Aberdeen.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: StorageUpscale
Lead organisation: Scottish Gas Network
Description: Feasibility study into how Scotland’s geology can integrate with innovative engineered storage solutions to provide capacity for intermediate scale (>1TWh) storage to bridge the existing hydrogen storage capacity gap.
Funding awarded: £149,000

Project: Large Scale Floating Hydrogen Production Offshore Scotland
Lead organisation: Subsea7
Description: A concept study programme that will focus on offshore production of green hydrogen on a Floating Hydrogen Production Unit (FHPU) located close to offshore windfarms.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Green Hydrogen Integration at Sullom Voe
Lead organisation: EnQuest Heather Ltd
Description: A study to assess the feasibility of producing hydrogen from treated water from the Sullom Voe terminal water treatment plant (site rainwater runoff and process waste water) via electrolysis, then storage/distribution via existing obsolete O&G infrastructure.
Funding awarded: £149,633

Project: DESOW (Decoupled Electrolyser, Storage and Offshore Wind)
Lead organisation: Invinity Energy (UK) Ltd
Description: Feasibility study to establish the applicability of using offshore wind to power a novel decoupled electrolyser to support hydrogen production, energy storage, and on demand electricity generation via vanadium redox flow batteries
Funding awarded: £131,243

Project: River Clyde for Hydrogen Production and Reoxygenation Project
Lead organisation: Marubeni Europower Limited
Description: Study to establish a process of river water treatment for supplying to electrolysers, which should overcome issues of water availability (and cost) to produce renewable hydrogen.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: Off-grid Green Hydrogen Production Demonstration
Lead organisation: ORE Catapult Development Services Limited
Description: Study to assess the feasibility of an off-grid green hydrogen production demonstration project
Funding awarded: £147,529

Project: HySKUA
Lead organisation: EMEC
Description: A study that will focus on offshore production of green hydrogen on a floating hydrogen production hub (HySKUA) co-located with Scottish offshore windfarms.
Funding awarded: £150,000

Project: H2 Auxinvest
Lead organisation: Green Cat Hydrogen Ltd
Description: Development of an open-source software tool that will improve the uptake of low TRL equipment through plugging a gap in available information about existing and upcoming low TRL components produced using a domestic supply chain.
Funding awarded: £50,098

Project: Remote Rural Hydrogen Production
Lead organisation: SRUC
Description: Study that aims to support an innovative solution to the decarbonisation of agricultural and forestry operations.
Funding awarded: £129,972

Stream 2 projects
Project: Accessible Green Hydrogen Test and Demonstration Facility for Scotland
Lead organisation: University of Glasgow
Description: Creation of demonstration and testing facilities for low-to-mid and mid-to-late Technology Readiness Level (TRL) hydrogen technologies, enabling such technologies to be developed and commercialised in Scotland.
Funding awarded: £280,550

Project: Creed Hydrogen Skills and Innovation Centre
Lead organisation: Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar
Description: Establishment of a green hydrogen production learning, test and research hub at Creed Park, Stornoway which aims to accelerate the development of a hydrogen ecosystem in the Outer Hebrides.
Funding awarded: £1,129,000

Project: Construction Hydrogen Hub
Lead organisation: Balfour Beatty
Description: Conversion of an existing Operation and Maintenance depot into a Construction Hydrogen Hub to demonstrate the use of and catalyse demand for hydrogen in the construction industry.
Funding awarded: £243,000

Project: Comprehensive one stop hydrogen storage testing (Hy-One)
Lead organisation: National Subsea Centre, Robert Gordon University (RGU)
Description: Hy-One will provide a testing facility to support the development, demonstration, and implementation of small- to large-scale compressed hydrogen storage vessels and their accessories.
Funding awarded: £1,198,000

Hydrogen Innovation Scheme objectives
The objectives of the scheme are to:

support innovation in hydrogen production, storage and distribution technology to reduce the cost of hydrogen produced in Scotland
enable Scottish companies not currently active in the hydrogen sector to transition or diversify their operations to help anchor the hydrogen supply chain in Scotland

encourage collaboration between the private sector and academia
attract additional investment in Scottish hydrogen innovation activity
support Scottish companies to partner internationally to drive innovation and build and export Scottish capability/expertise
support the development and use of Scotland’s world-class test and demonstration facilities