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In June 2019, at the request of the Government of Japan, the International Energy Agency (IEA) submitted a landmark report to the G20 summit in Osaka, focusing on hydrogen’s potential to play a key role in a clean, secure and affordable energy future.

The report noted that clean hydrogen is currently enjoying unprecedented political and business momentum, with the number of projects around the world expanding rapidly.

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Hydrogen offers ways to decarbonise a range of sectors – including long-haul transport, chemicals, iron and steel – which could meaningfully reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. Its incredible versatility enables hydrogen to be produced, stored, moved and utilised as energy, an energy vector, in a variety of ways. It can be transported as a gas by pipelines, in liquid form by ship, can be transformed into electricity and methane to power homes and feed industry, and processed to provide fuel for cars, trucks, ships and planes.

Crucially, hydrogen is also the missing piece of the jigsaw in enabling existing renewable technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind farms, to provide a greater contribution than at present. Hydrogen gas has the highest energy density of any fuel, making it one of the leading options for storing and transporting energy from renewables whose availability is not always well matched to demand. In addition, the stable chemistry of hydrogen also means it can store energy longer than any other medium.

While it’s not surprising that Japan should be a frontrunner in the development and utilisation of hydrogen fuel cells, more unexpected is that, when a Japanese delegation recently visited the ground-breaking hydrogen project in Levenmouth, Fife, they were amazed and delighted at what they found: a fully-operational system demonstrating the viability and versatility of ‘green hydrogen’.

Advocates of hydrogen technologies believe that with the long-term investment and stakeholder buy-in required, Scotland has the capability to transform its entire energy sector to become cleaner and more efficient, while contributing significantly to the Scottish economy. Jobs will result not only in R&D and industry, but community-led employment from the training, installation, operation and aftercare of the increasing number of hydrogen technologies used across the country. In addition, Scotland will also enjoy increased revenue from the export of hydrogen technologies and skills as additional countries around the world attempt to follow our example.

According to Nigel Holmes, chief executive of the Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA), the last two years has seen a transformation in the number of hydrogen energy projects happening in Scotland and a growing recognition of Scotland’s reputation in the field.

Holmes says: “There are lots of people all over the country working hard to make this happen. The SHFCA is one of the largest and most proactive associations of our type in Europe. We have university members, colleges, local authorities, city members, SMEs like Logan Energy, micro-companies, individuals, and larger companies like Doosan in Renfrew, who are active in large fuel cell production. The role of the association is to help bring those people together to see the opportunities and articulate what is going on in Scotland, and to spread that message both at home and internationally.

“We’ve been fortunate that the Scottish Government’s policies on increasing the uptake of renewable energy have been very well aligned with what we need to do with hydrogen. Through the use of hydrogen and fuel cells, we can help to power the electricity networks, fuel clean transport and eventually decarbonise the gas network. Hydrogen fuel cell technology could be a massive contributor to helping us reach that goal of ‘net zero’ emissions by 2045, which is an ambitious target as things currently stand.”

Holmes points to work going on in Orkney as a fantastic example of how hydrogen technology can be applied smartly to solve local problems. He says: “It’s an incredible story as we had our annual conference in Orkney in 2015 and at that time there was almost no hydrogen activity there at all. Less than four years later, Orkney is now seen as one of the leading examples worldwide of deploying hydrogen as part of a low carbon energy system. They’re using stranded wind turbines to produce the hydrogen via electrolysis of water; they’re moving the hydrogen by trailer; they have a refuelling station; they’re using fuel cells to power ships when they are dockside in Kirkwall; they have some fuel cell vans and, most recently, a hydrogen heating system has been commissioned to be installed at a local school.

“In Orkney, they’ve realised how to make hydrogen technology work for them and address the particular issues they face. They have lots of renewable energy and want to get away from a dependence on imported fossil fuels. They want to keep the production of their energy local and in doing so they are helping to decarbonise their energy network and become far more self-sufficient.

Holmes says: “There’s no reason why the principles shown in Orkney and Levenmouth could not be applied throughout Scotland on a much larger scale and we can become far more self-sufficient as a country with clean, green energy.”

Bill Ireland, CEO of Logan Energy, which designs, installs, commissions and maintains fuel cell and hydrogen energy systems in the UK and is helping with the integration and implementation of the tech behind the Orkney projects, says: “Scotland has a genuine opportunity to become a global leader in the exploitation of hydrogen technology, but it’s far from guaranteed. The moves we make over the next few months will be crucial in deciding whether we capitalise on that potential or fall behind others who are running at the opportunity.”

Fife is another Scottish hotspot for hydrogen fuel cell tech, which led the way with The Hydrogen Office demonstration site and the Levenmouth Community Energy Project in Methil. Logan Energy was closely involved in both projects.

Ireland says: “In partnership with Bright Green Hydrogen, Toshiba, and Fife Council , the facility at the Levenmouth Community Energy Project was constructed to demonstrate green hydrogen as a viable medium for energy storage, grid balancing, electricity generation and transport fuel. When we showed the Japanese delegation what we’d achieved at Levenmouth, they were amazed. They told us that the system we already had up and running addressed many of the problems that they were still discussing back at home on the drawing board.”

Logan Energy designed, built, installed and commissioned the hydrogen system for the project. The facility produces compressed hydrogen through electrolysis from surplus electricity generated by a 750kW wind turbine and 160kW solar photovoltaics. An electrolyser creates around 100kg of hydrogen per day for the onsite hydrogen storage requirements, which is then used in a 100kW PEM fuel cell to generate electricity for the micro-grid at times when demand is higher than the renewable energy supply. Two further electrolysers, a 60kW PEM electrolyser and a 60kW alkaline electrolyser each generate around 24kg of hydrogen for two vehicle refuelling systems. This hydrogen is stored at 450 bar and then used to fuel a local fleet of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Ireland says: “The project in Fife was a great springboard for us. Lots of people from all over the world have visited that site, which led to further work for us. In recent years, we’ve delivered projects for brands such as The Crown Estate, Land Securities, Canary Wharf, Transport for London and SSE, where we installed Combined Cooling Heat and Power fuel cell installations. We’re now exporting hydrogen systems to Germany, Spain, Ireland and looking to expand further afield.”

While the Levenmouth project focuses on ‘green hydrogen’ produced from excess electricity generated by renewables, Ireland believes that in order to meet the ‘net zero’ emissions targets set by government, it will be necessary to make use of a combination of “green” and ‘blue hydrogen’, extracted from natural gas in combination with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) systems which need to be developed on a large scale. CCS systems capture CO2, compress it and use decommissioned gas pipelines to carry the gas offshore and store safely under the seabed. Given the number of decommissioned natural gas and oil fields, some of which are now sinking, replacing the extracted gas and oil with CO2 represents an added bonus.

“Generally speaking, we need to start thinking bigger on the potential of hydrogen,” adds Ireland. “At Logan Energy, we’re not about selling kit, we’re about delivering the right energy solutions, so we’re moving beyond the ‘demonstration project’ phase on to commercial deployments. The technology is ready. In the Netherlands, for example, projects are being planned to create huge Giga Watt windfarms in the North Sea, feeding electrolysers on artificial islands, which in turn produce green hydrogen and pump it back to the mainland via decommissioned natural gas pipelines.

“We need to be looking at projects on that scale in Scotland. Hydrogen projects tend to come with higher upfront capital costs and the benefits are recouped over time, so there’s often reluctance in political will to greenlight projects that won’t bear fruit within the lifetime of a parliament. There are signs, though, that things are beginning to change.”

In December 2013, the Scottish Cities Alliance began work on a strategy to develop the hydrogen economy in Scotland. Twelve months later, the Alliance produced a report agreeing to pursue activity centred round the following four areas:

• Large scale deployment of Hydrogen fuel cell buses;

• Hydrogen refuelling station infrastructure;

• Greening council fleets;

• Production of green Hydrogen from renewable electricity.

Focusing activity around these four areas, the Alliance reasoned, would allow Scotland to position itself as one of Europe’s leading early adopters of hydrogen technology and attract inward investment into sectors such as manufacturing, engineering and energy.

In addition, the strategy argued that adopting a collaborative cities approach to building the Hydrogen economy would provide Scotland with the necessary scale to attract funding and accelerate its transition to a low carbon economy, thereby tackling air quality issues, de-carbonising transport and ensuring energy security. Hydrogen project officer at the Scottish Cities Alliance Fiona Landy, says: “Scottish cities are key enablers to drive forward the low carbon agenda for Scotland and it is very much at the forefront of our cities’ ambitions. Hydrogen can play a very important part and the cities are working collaboratively to bring about initiatives with scale that can seriously make an impact within this sector and attract inward investment.”

In 2014, the Alliance entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU) to participate in a European-wide commercialisation study for the deployment of large-scale hydrogen fuel cell buses and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure across Europe. This project seeks to supply cities with a commercial and affordable offer for zero emission buses that provide the same range and operational flexibility as diesel buses.

Landy says: “Developing a Scottish supply chain within this sector is of paramount importance. Aberdeen City Council has been at the forefront of building a hydrogen economy and is a partner, along with Dundee City Council in the most ambitious pan-European projects – JIVE/JIVE2 to bring about the commercialisation of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and hydrogen fuel cell buses.

“From this initiative, two UK leading bus manufacturers have become involved. The first of the double-deckers to be deployed in Aberdeen are from Wright Bus in Northern Ireland. Alexander Dennis – a leading Scottish bus manufacturer – launched their own double decker fuel cell electric bus earlier this year and these will be adopted across cities and regions in Scotland.”

Nigel Holmes believes pioneering projects like the introduction of hydrogen buses in Aberdeen will prove to be highly significant: “The market for hydrogen fuel cell solutions has been kick-started by local authorities in Scotland. In 2013 there were maybe one or two vehicles in the whole of Scotland running on hydrogen.

From 2015, there was a fleet of 10 buses in Aberdeen, which will soon grow to a fleet of more than 50 hydrogen vehicles. More than a million journeys have now been taken on those buses, which matters a lot, as this means more people are being introduced to the technology.

NHS Scotland in Aberdeen is using Toyota fuel cell cars as part of their fleet. One of the car clubs in Aberdeen is also leasing fuel cell cars to the public. This is the way that awareness is raised and the market for hydrogen fuel cell energy solutions is grown.”

Brexit and other barriers

One major cloud on the horizon of the hydrogen sector in Scotland is, of course, Brexit. According to Bill Ireland, his contacts in the academic community are already taking a hit. He says: “There are European projects out there that previously would definitely have involved Scottish universities, but since the vote to leave, more and more projects are passing us by.

“Being inside the EU would make things easier for a company like Logan Energy for sure, but we’ve set up a company in The Netherlands to help protect our access to the European marketplace.

“In light of Brexit, though, the UK bodies responsible for funding innovation in hydrogen really need to step up to the mark. I haven’t heard too much yet about how they propose to plug the R&D funding gap that Brexit will create for academia and industry or legislation to encourage deployment. It’s important that they find ways to support micro-organisations in this sector as that is usually where true innovation takes place.”

Holmes believes that it’s important for those pushing hydrogen as a green solution to be clear and honest about the economic benefits possible: “People love to say things like ‘this will create X number of jobs for Scotland’, but this situation is a bit different from that.

As government moves towards decarbonising the energy network, Scotland has thousands of jobs at risk in the traditional energy sector. By embracing hydrogen solutions, we have a chance to manage the human impacts of a transition from a carbon-heavy to a carbon-light industrial economy.

The transition has to be a just one and avoid the impacts on communities that accompanied the rapid deindustrialisation of the 80s and 90s.”

When it comes to maximising the potential of hydrogen technology in Scotland, it seems the power is in our own hands.

This article is part of Scottish Business Insider’s

Reimagining Scotland series which is sponsored by Shepherd and Wedderburn