NZTC gets £2.12M support to demonstrate feasibility of repurposing existing assets to produce green hydrogen

October 13, 2022, by Ajsa Habibic

The Scottish Government has awarded £2.12 million (around $2.35 million) to Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) from Just Transition Fund (JTF) to support the delivery of the centre’s Hydrogen Offshore Production Project (HOP2).

The HOP2 project, which will be delivered over four years, will demonstrate if offshore hydrogen production and storage is feasible at a scale of 500MW to 1GW through the repurposing of existing oil and gas assets.

It will also outline what a new build project for offshore hydrogen production could deliver within the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and what the impact of anchoring this emerging sector in Scotland will be on the regional workforce, supporting a just transition, NZTC said.

The project builds on the NZTC-led Offshore Hydrogen Production project which was funded as part of the 2018 BEIS Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply competition, as well as recommendations made in the ‘Technology Driving Green Energy Growth’ report, published in collaboration with the Technology Leadership Board, NZTC, and Accenture.

The report recommends an infrastructure plan should be constructed to transport, transmit, store and manage new energy commodities such as hydrogen, ammonia, renewable electricity and carbon dioxide (CO2), enabling existing infrastructure to be better utilised.

As informed, the HOP2 project aims to:

Sustain direct and indirect jobs as a result of a just transition and enable the creation of jobs associated with a future hydrogen economy in Scotland by 2045.
Harvest the wind resources further from Scottish shores, essential to deliver the 65TWh hydrogen required to achieve net zero by 2040.
Significantly contribute towards Scotland’s 37 GW by 2045 green hydrogen export ambitions.

Myrtle Dawes, Solution Centre director, Net Zero Technology Centre, said: “We are delighted that NZTC’s Hydrogen Offshore Production Project (HOP2) has been awarded funding from Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund.

“From enabling rapid scale-up of hydrogen infrastructure to leveraging North-East skills and creating new jobs, the HOP2 project will accelerate Scotland’s decarbonisation goals and put it on the map as a leader in hydrogen production, distribution and export.”