The Scottish Government has reportedly published a new policy statement, whereby it has set out a goal to generate approximately 5GW of low-carbon, renewable hydrogen by 2030. The equivalent of this power is enough for sustaining nearly 1.8 million homes.
Upon burning, hydrogen produces only water and no toxic emissions and can also be used for replacing fossil fuels. Further, hydrogen can also be manufactured with the help of renewable energy. The government of Scotland will, therefore, initiate a funding of £100 million through the next five years for supporting a green recovery.
According to Paul Wheelhouse, the Minister of Energy, Scotland, the country has all the necessary raw ingredients in abundance for the manufacturing of low-cost hydrogen and one of the largest aggregations of offshore engineering expertise at the global level. This could be used for further harnessing the country’s renewable energy potential in technologies such as the wave, wind, and tidal power for the production of green hydrogen, added Wheelhouse.
In Orkney, European Marine Energy Centre has recently claimed a world first, when advanced flow batteries were integrated with tidal power for the production of continuous green hydrogen from wavering renewable energy generation for the first time. Further, the Energy Centre has also announced the £12.3 million HyFlyer2 project, which will be developing a 19-seat hydrogen-electric aircraft for helping to make zero-emission flights a commercial reality.
The renewable energy industry has the capability of being worth up to £25 billion every year to the Scottish economy by 2045 for reaching the goal of net-zero carbon emissions. Given that Scotland is the globally the first country for publishing a hydrogen policy statement, industry leaders believe that the Scottish expertise in renewables as well as oil and gas indicates that it is ideally positioned for becoming a world leader in the generation of eco-friendly hydrogen power.
Source credit: https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scotland-invest-ps100m-hydrogen-power-bid-hit-climate-goals-3075428
