Iberdrola Launches Green Hydrogen Scheme in Highlands in Scottland
Iberdrola, though its subsidiary ScottishPower, has teamed up with some of the UK's main distilleries and spirits companies and the Port of Cromarty Firth to launch a green hydrogen project in the Highlands. The result will allow the whisky and spirit production industry in Scotland to develop this technology and fight climate change. The North of Scotland Hydrogen Scheme will create a state-of-the-art hub in the Cromarty Firth to produce, store and distribute renewable hydrogen to the region and other parts of the UK and Europe.
One of the leading projects, whose feasibility study will be released in May, will supply Scottish distilleries with renewable hydrogen. The scheme will be funded by ScottishPower and drinks giants Glenmorangie, Whyte & Mackay and Diageo in collaboration with energy company Pale Blue Dot. They will produce electricity with electrolysers powered by 100 % clean energy from existing and future offshore and onshore wind farms along the Cromarty Firth coast. This supply of green hydrogen will enable Glenmorangie, Whyte & Mackay and Diageo to decarbonise heat production in their distilleries and malting plants close to the Cromarty Firth, replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen to produce the steam required for distilling.
The scheme will boost climate neutrality and decarbonisation in Scotland, which has set its sights on becoming the industry's world leader when it comes to green hydrogen.
The project furthers these companies' strategies and actions by allowing them to work together on a competitive technology to supply green hydrogen to the distillery industry and to public services such as ports, while decarbonising their operations. There are massive opportunities in the Highlands for decarbonising industry, transport and the heating and refrigeration sectors and to export green energy to other parts of the UK and continental Europe.
Scotland has the potential to become a global trailblazer in large-scale green hydrogen production. It is also important not to underestimate the massive positive effect that this technology can have for decarbonising Scotland, as well as for creating jobs and stimulating the economy.
Up to 15 new offshore wind plants will be developed in the near future, a significant number of which will be built in sites at the entrance to the Cromarty Firth. The Port of Cromarty Firth's deep waters, existing facilities and proximity to an area with vast potential for renewable energy make it a strategic location for a green hydrogen plant.
Source - Strategic Research Institute