Hydrogen in Scotland - regional hydrogen hubs

Aberdeen

Already one of Europe’s most pioneering hydrogen cities, Aberdeen has two hydrogen refuelling stations, one of the largest fleets of hydrogen vehicles and many ambitious hydrogen production projects in planning. The development of the new South Harbour, the UK’s largest marine infrastructure project, is currently underway and the adjacent Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) is set to become a catalyst for high-value manufacturing, R&D and hydrogen skills development.

Argyll & Islands

MACC Hydrogen Futures aims to establish a green hydrogen production and distribution site at Machrihanish Airbase on the Kintyre Peninsula. A former military aerodrome, Machrihanish has been transformed into a thriving community-owned business park offering over 1,000 acres (400+ hectares) of unique properties, development land and assets, as well as its own airport.

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is emerging as a hub of hydrogen activity. Hunterston, a former nuclear power station, is an ideal landing point for nearby offshore wind farms, with vast industrial options for hydrogen production and export, strong grid connections and existing marine infrastructure. Prestwick Aerospace, home to Scotland’s aerospace sector, offers exciting opportunities to service the aviation sector, set to emerge as one of hydrogen’s key end-users.

Cromarty

The North of Scotland Hydrogen Programme aims to develop a state-of-the-art hub to produce, store and distribute green hydrogen to the local area, the UK and Europe. Ideally located close to large-scale renewable resources, there is a driving ambition for the region to become a hydrogen economy, with a huge local demand for green hydrogen from distilleries, industry, transport and domestic applications.

Dumfries & Galloway

Centrally located in the UK, Dumfries & Galloway produces 11% of all Scotland’s renewable energy and offers easy access to existing gas transmission pipelines (including the Scotland to Northern Ireland Pipeline) and future ‘Project Union’ and ‘European Backbone’ transmission infrastructure. The area already has a hydrogen supply chain cluster, including hydrogen-enabled industrial boilers, and key development sites include Chapelcross which offers up to 500 acres.

Dundee

Ideally located next to several offshore wind farms, Dundee has ambitions to deploy hydrogen production, refuelling infrastructure and hydrogen vehicle fleets. Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) is a key site, focused on driving innovation and R&D in sustainable mobility and low carbon energy and offering a wide range of industrial spaces, research facilities and a Skills Centre of Excellence.

Fife

Fife’s world-first H100 hydrogen network will be deployed in 2025, heating 300 homes with clean gas produced by a dedicated electrolysis plant using local wind generation. The project is built on the legacy of Fife’s pioneering Hydrogen Office which launched in 2011 with a 750kW wind turbine and 30kW electrolyser and subsequently added a solar PV, smart microgrid, hydrogen vehicles, electrolysis, storage and fuel cell back-up power.

Glasgow

The Sustainable Glasgow initiative aims to make Scotland’s largest city net zero by 2030, with projects including deploying hydrogen refuse collection vehicles and new refuelling infrastructure. The nearby Whitelee wind farm, one of Europe’s largest onshore wind farms, will have the UK’s largest electrolyser at 20MW, while the Hy2Go project proposes a green hydrogen production park off the M74 motorway.

Grangemouth

Scotland’s largest industrial area, Grangemouth offers numerous exciting opportunities to decarbonise refinery and petrochemicals manufacture. Transportation of hydrogen from Grangemouth by pipeline is being developed with the SGN LTS Futures project carrying out trials to repurpose an existing gas pipeline to transport hydrogen from Grangemouth to Edinburgh.

Orkney

The Flotta Hydrogen Hub is a proposed industrial-scale green hydrogen production facility on an existing oil terminal in Orkney. Utilising offshore wind, this exciting project could export significant quantities of hydrogen to Europe and the UK gas grid at St Fergus, forming the foundation for an international maritime green hydrogen refuelling hub.

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is ideally situated to emerge as a leading hydrogen hub. The area boasts large onshore windfarms and easy access to the East Coast’s offshore windfarms, via Eyemouth harbour, and the European Hydrogen Backbone initiative. Main gas transmission pipelines to England cross the area, as will new ‘Project Union’ infrastructure, while local engineering firms offer strong electrolyser supply chain potential.

Shetland

Green hydrogen from abundant wind, wave and tidal resources will power homes, businesses and vehicles, electrify oil and gas installations, and serve export markets using existing infrastructure, including Shetland Gas Plant and Sullom Voe, a deepwater port/oil terminal.

Western Isles

The Outer Hebrides Energy Hub will maximise the area’s abundant onshore and offshore wind resources, producing enough green hydrogen to power the islands, as well as for export to the UK domestic and international markets.