United Kingdom – Scottish Government

Country: United Kingdom – Scottish Government

Document type: Policy Statement / Action Plan

Title: Scottish Government Hydrogen Policy Statement – Released: December 2020

Title: Hydrogen Action Plan – Released December 2022

Summary Points:

  • The Policy Statement includes the following key points:
    • Confirms support for the strategic growth of a strong hydrogen economy in Scotland, focusing on efforts to support the development of local hydrogen production capability to meet an ambition of at least 5 GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 and at least 25 GW by 2045
    • £100 million funding support towards the development of a hydrogen industry in Scotland
    • Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen would play an increasingly important role in the energy transition to net zero in 2045 and the importance of establishing low-carbon hydrogen production at scale by the mid-2020s, linked to carbon capture and storage (CCS)
    • Advancing innovation and supporting the development and deployment of hydrogen (and key technologies such as fuel cells and electrolysers) and its emergent role in the decarbonisation of critical industry processes, transport and heat in buildings
    • The importance of moving (and growing) quickly to capitalise on opportunities within the domestic and global hydrogen markets
    • Supporting development of a hydrogen supply chain, including the development of local skills and manufacturing capacity
    • Exploring opportunities for negative carbon hydrogen, combining the potential to use bioenergy resources to produce hydrogen with CCS.
    • Engagement with the UK Government on the development of a UK policy and regulatory framework for hydrogen, business models, market mechanisms, carbon pricing, feed in tariffs, fuel economy standards, renewable fuel standards and zero emission vehicle mandates
    • Actively seek international collaboration
  • The Hydrogen Action Plan sets out actions to implement the key policy positions and ambitions set out in the Hydrogen Policy Statement. The actions in the Plan are designed to:
    • Drive Scotland’s hydrogen production capability to meet an ambition of 5 GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045
    • Address current barriers to the uptake of hydrogen including high production costs
    • Support the growth of Regional Hydrogen Energy Hubs
    • Encourage demand for hydrogen by supporting hydrogen use and developing our supply chain capability
    • Support the realisation of the economic benefits of Scotland’s hydrogen export potential
    • Secure broad economic benefit from public sector and private sector support for development of regional hydrogen production and use; and
    • Encourage the development of a strong hydrogen sector in Scotland that supports a just transition to net zero.
  • The Hydrogen Action Plan confirmed the £100 million available to support renewable hydrogen projects in line with the Hydrogen Policy Statement (and to be carried out through the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund – EETF):
    • The Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, a £10 million capital funding stream of the EETF was launched in June 2022. In May 2023, the Scottish Government announced the award of £7 million of the Scheme to 31 projects, predominantly consisting of projects under Stream 1 (funding for feasibility studies or technical demonstration of hydrogen production, distribution or storage solutions).
  • In October 2022, the Scottish Government announced the award of over £50 million to the first 22 projects under the Scottish Government’s £500 million Just Transition Fund: the project awards support, amongst other things, the production of renewables-based hydrogen and the development of wave and tidal technology.
  • In August 2024, the Scottish Government announced a funding award of £3.1 million to support the construction of a new regional hub in Speyside. The phased development by Storegga is expected to produce around 200MW of green hydrogen by 2032. The Scottish Government’s funding is to be matched by Storegga – with investment totalling £6.2 million.
  • In September 2024, the Scottish Government announced up to £7 million funding allocated to help kick start green hydrogen projects across Scotland. The funding would help cover the development stage costs of green hydrogen production projects with production capacity of between 5 – 400 MW. Expressions of interest closed on 27 September 2024; for applicants invited to submit a full application, the closing date for such is 1 November 2024. Grants would be provided under Scottish Enterprise’s Research and Development and Innovation Scheme for 2022 to 2025.

 

Reviewed: September 2024