Chamber and committees

Scotland’s huge potential for renewable electricity generation, and hydrogen’s utility, means that it can also act as a vector for energy storage and a balancing service to the electricity grid. It can additionally act as a vector for transportation, particularly considering grid constraints.

We are engaging closely with the UKG, OfGEM, and National Grid ESO ahead of the launch of the National Energy System operator this Summer to underline the need for strategic planning and to ensure that hydrogen production, storage and system utility is considered and other areas such as progressive approaches to flexibility reform and grid connection timelines, as they affect the viability of hydrogen projects, are reflected in our engagement in strategic programmes such as the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) and Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) and the ESO Constraints Collaboration project which is seeking solutions for thermal constraints, which can reduce costs to the consumer or reduce the curtailment of renewable generation.

Establishing hydrogen transport infrastructure is critical to achieving the ambitions set out in our Hydrogen Action Plan. The Scottish Government is working with key European partners to assess options and opportunities for the development of transport infrastructure to enable the export of hydrogen from Scotland.

Scottish Government is engaging with National Grid on the Project Union initiative exploring the phased repurposing of the UK’s natural gas National Transmission System (NTS) to create a UK hydrogen backbone carrying 100% hydrogen. Decisions on the future of the Gas Grid are a reserved matter and are expected to be made in 2026 by the UK Government. We continue to routinely engage with UK Government on a range of hydrogen policy matters including Transport and Storage Hydrogen Business Models.

We are also working with industry and the development agencies on the development of a Hydrogen Sector Export Plan (HSEP) that will set out the steps needed to realise Scotland's export potential – including in relation to the development of critical infrastructure to support the transport of hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives. This is expected to be published this year.

The Scottish Government and our Enterprise Agencies support hydrogen developers and businesses across Scotland to grow a pipeline of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production projects in Scotland and secure the accompanying supply chain opportunities. Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than the 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity we hope to have operational by 2030.

We are engaging closely with the Cromarty Hydrogen Project (Storegga) 10.6MW and Scottish Power Whitelees Project 7.1MW both of whom are targeting industrial heat as an offtake for their hydrogen and were successful in their applications for hydrogen business model support from UKG in the first round allocation (HAR1). We provided letters of support for a further 10 projects in Scotland that applied for the UKG’S HAR 2 round.

The Scottish Government and Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies continue to work to inform Scottish supply chain companies about hydrogen sector developments and to help them to prepare for the opportunities associated with hydrogen infrastructure rollout both in Scotland and further afield.

We are currently working with key industry experts and our development agencies to develop a Hydrogen Sector Export Plan that will set out the steps needed to realise Scotland's export potential.

The Scottish Government and its partners engage with and provide specialist support to companies in Scotland seeking to trade overseas, including help to attend trade shows and establish links with international project developers.

We are building the evidence base to help support hydrogen off-take across multiple sectors in Scotland, examining both hydrogen production and demand across Scotland’s geography through a number of key reports, such as ‘Hydrogen demand in Scotland: a mapping of industrial and transport applications’ which can be found here and a detailed report focussing specifically on the distillery sector which can be found here .

Alongside Scottish Enterprise, we are developing a Scottish Hydrogen Innovation Network (SHINE). SHINE will provide an entry point for Scottish and European companies to access Scottish research and development centres in academic and commercial settings. The resulting innovations will increase the competitiveness of hydrogen technologies and enable collaborative partnerships.

The formal project launch of SHINE will take place at All-Energy on 16 May 2024 with the SHINE website to be launched preceding All-Energy.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the Scottish Regulatory Steering Group, comprised of key regulators, to assess regulatory requirements for the development of the hydrogen sector in Scotland. We are working with UK and Scottish regulators to ensure that action is taken to address identified issues and create a clear regulatory framework for hydrogen projects.

The deployment of green hydrogen production will develop alongside the growth of onshore and offshore wind and the availability of constrained renewable electricity from existing wind farms.

Over fifty hydrogen production projects are at varying stages of development amounting collectively to more than our 5 GW’s of hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

The Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), due to be published by summer this year, will set clear ambitions for increasing Scotland’s renewable energy capacity. It will outline a route map of actions that the Scottish Government will taketo deliver these ambitions whilst supporting a just transition.

Our Offshore Wind Policy Statement (2020) set out the Scottish Government’s ambition for 8-11 GW of offshore wind in Scotland by 2030. This is currently being reviewed in light of the significant ambition demonstrated by the private sector via the ScotWind leasing round. We also consulted on setting a further ambition for 2045 through the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the ambitions as set out in the 2020 Offshore Wind Policy Statement and will invest up to £500m over the next five years to develop the infrastructure and supply chain critical to growing our offshore wind sector.

As of December 2023, Scotland’s onshore wind operational capacity is around 9.5 GW. Within the project pipeline there is additional 13.9 GW of potential onshore wind capacity in Scotland.