Chamber and committees

Will the member give way?

Will the member take an intervention?

Does the member acknowledge that, notwithstanding everything that he has said about the benefits and preferability of electrification, there may be parts of the country where electrification may be difficult to achieve and, therefore, other solutions such as hydrogen should at least be experimented with?

Scotland has a great capacity in this regard. Within the constraints of our devolved powers, the Scottish Government is working to forge relationships, overcome many of the barriers and ensure that we respond to the fact that, as other members have alluded to, the German Government expects to import between 50 and 70 per cent of its hydrogen demand by 2030, to name but one opportunity.

As our relationships deepen, we are keen to work with our near northern neighbours—Denmark, Norway and Ireland—as an alliance of producing nations that can supply some of that demand.

I cannot remember who made this point, but we are also keen to meet the demand for hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia.

Last year, we welcomed the signing of a joint declaration of intent on hydrogen between the UK and Germany. That agreement opens the door for deeper collaboration with our key partners in Germany and other hydrogen markets. The first output of that agreement—a UK-German hydrogen trade feasibility study—was published only this week. The study includes research findings by the Net Zero Technology Centre’s hydrogen backbone link project, which is co-funded by the Scottish Government, to assess how Scotland could connect to the European hydrogen backbone and facilitate the export of hydrogen produced in Scotland.

As other members have pointed out, Scotland has a long and proud history of innovation, and hydrogen is no exception to that. A strong evidence base is crucial to the development of the sector. We are, therefore, supporting a range of research initiatives to assist us in laying the groundwork to innovate and build on all of that.

That work includes 31 projects that are funded via our hydrogen innovation scheme, such as the Clyde Hydrogen Systems novel decoupled electrolysis project, which is based at the University of Glasgow, as well as projects by Gravitricity, on geological storage, and by Intelligent Plant and Green Cat Renewables on the development of artificial intelligence-powered decision-making tools.

In November 2024, we published the hydrogen sector export plan. That ambitious plan, which was developed in consultation with industry and international partners, sets out the steps required for Scotland to realise our hydrogen export potential.

Scotland has enormous potential in this area. Hydrogen is not the only answer to Scotland’s energy needs, and I say in response to one or two comments that were made today that it is certainly not a magical solution. However, it is part of the answer and it has the potential to benefit our environment and our economy in the years to come.

I recognise the work that is being done by the community organisation that Mr Sweeney mentioned. I also recognise the issue that he points to, which is that climate change will, ultimately, make the problems more complicated to solve.

The Scottish Government provides a range of support to address some of those issues. I mentioned the £300 million investment. More specifically, we are seeking to ensure that landlords in the private rented sector are in a position to make life better for their tenants, and we are supporting the social housing rented sector.

I am not going to pre-empt any decisions by the Scottish Government, but I will say that the member is right to point out that the same advice applies in both cases.

We want to support the scaling up of hydrogen projects, and we have taken steps to ensure that our planning and consenting regimes are responsive to the growing number of developments that are emerging across the country.

We have taken action to improve capacity and capability in our planning system to enable local planning authorities to respond to the growing number of hydrogen developments across Scotland. That point was picked up today by Sarah Boyack, Foysol Choudhury and others. We have sought to address that. In collaboration with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Aberdeen, we have developed a continuing personal development course that is entitled “An introduction to hydrogen for the public sector”. The course, which launched in July 2024, is targeted at local planning professionals. The modules that have been developed for the course are free to access via the Improvement Service website.

A planning hub for Scotland was established in September 2024 and is hosted by the Improvement Service. Its initial focus is to improve consenting speed for hydrogen developments. The hub is working to identify the pipeline for hydrogen projects and to gain an understanding of the operational barriers to their delivery. Comprehensive planning and consenting guidance for the development of hydrogen production facilities will be published this year.

By developing our domestic hydrogen sector, Scotland, in partnership with the UK Government and our European neighbours, can play a key role in meeting the growing global demand for low-carbon and renewable hydrogen technologies and the skills that will be required in the energy system of the future.

As Audrey Nicoll, Kevin Stewart and others pointed out, the wider situation would be greatly assisted if the UK Government could come to the right decision on Acorn. We have been taking steps to work out a way forward—a reality—by forming international agreements, building relationships and collaborating on research.

Scotland has very strong international relationships, most notably with the EU and individual member states such as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. I have seen for myself the strong interest in Scotland’s hydrogen capacity that exists in those countries. As Maurice Golden and other members—

We have committed to investing more than £300 million in our heat in buildings programme in 2025-26. That funding will be spent on reducing emissions from heating and improving energy efficiency in homes and other buildings across Scotland, as well as on developing heat networks.

We will continue our successful warmer homes Scotland and area-based schemes, which are aimed at people in fuel poverty, as well as our generous Home Energy Scotland advice, grants, loans and funding for social homes. Householders who want to take action should contact Home Energy Scotland, which can help those who are interested to navigate the available support.

The balance that Ms Whitham mentions is crucial. Balancing the delivery of our net zero objectives with tackling fuel poverty is important, and there are significant opportunities to address those aims in tandem.

Through the investment that we are making, we can reduce poor energy efficiency, which is a driver of the fuel poverty that Ms Whitham described. Our schemes provide additional funding for households in rural areas in recognition of the additional and higher costs that they face. Last year, we amended planning rights to allow solar panels to be installed in properties in conservation areas without the need for a planning application, subject to specific restrictions.

The tone of today’s debate has been constructive. I think that it was Willie Rennie who urged us at one point to keep the tone of the debate cheery. We more or less achieved that, although I might disappoint Mr Rennie by telling him that, unfortunately, there are no salt caverns in Scotland, thanks to the geology that we have.

That is not pessimism; it is just data. However, Willie Rennie is right that there is a great deal to be positive about, and a great deal of room for consensus, in the debate about the hydrogen sector and how we need to help it to develop and grow.

As we have heard throughout today’s debate from speakers such as the cabinet secretary, Patrick Harvie and many others, developing Scotland’s hydrogen sector presents huge opportunities for Scotland. As the United Kingdom’s energy future and economic prosperity are important to all of us, I think that, although we have heard differences of opinion this afternoon, there is common ground on some of the issues.

There has been a surge in momentum on and enthusiasm for hydrogen. I have been able to see that in my role as chair of the Scottish hydrogen industry forum. The opportunities and technical challenges in hydrogen deployment are conveyed to me whenever I speak to companies that are active in the new sector.

Before going on to anything else, I want to address the issue of hydrogen and domestic heat, as it came up a fair bit in our discussions today, and I listened carefully to what the Greens had to say. At this stage in the debate, it is important to introduce a bit of perspective. The Scottish Government has supported the SGN hydrogen for heating project, which seeks to help us to understand the potential role of hydrogen in this area. It is important that we do that, and that, as we do so, we are mindful of the fact that one of our asks of the UK Government is about the price of electricity. That stems from our recognition that, in many circumstances, the priority is the electrification of heating in houses around the country. I hope that there is not quite as much disagreement about some of those things as has sometimes been the case today.