Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-27169

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is promoting Scotland’s interests overseas and boosting inbound and outbound trade and investment missions to secure opportunities for Scottish companies in the international hydrogen market and drive inward investment, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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 working with Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies to develop the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan and this will be informed by the findings of commissioned reports on identifying priority international markets for Scottish companies to target and assesses demand for hydrogen and hydrogen products in North West Europe. We are also supporting Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) work on the Hydrogen Backbone Link project seeking to establish the case for a hydrogen export pipeline from Scotland to mainland Europe.

We have supported several trade delegations including to Dubai Expo and, in January this year, Hyvolution in France, to which it is planned to return next year. We have supported visit programmes of several inward delegations, including from India, Singapore and German States.

Scottish Development International (SDI) has taken a strategic and targeted approach to attracting direct foreign investment to Scotland. It is focused on attracting hydrogen producers, supply chain companies and end users. Our hydrogen opportunity is being promoted internationally by SDI’s overseas offices and by relevant UK Government departments. This has catalysed visits to Scotland by companies, innovation partnerships with universities, a strong project concept pipeline and initial investments.

Question reference: S6W-27149

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to ensure that (a) regulatory, (b) planning and (c) consenting framework for renewable developments supports the scale-up of hydrogen at pace, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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.

To support our hydrogen ambitions, the Scottish Government have commissioned consultants to produce comprehensive guidance for hydrogen consenting across onshore and offshore regimes. The purpose of the guidance, which is expected to be published in 2024, is primarily to support developers navigating our planning and consenting systems to advance projects to delivery, but may also be a useful reference point for planners in local planning areas.

We have also commissioned academic expertise to design a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course as an ‘Introduction to Hydrogen’ offered free of charge to all local planning authorities in Scotland. This action aims to increase the knowledge and encourage knowledge sharing within local planning authorities dealing with the consenting of planning applications for hydrogen production. The CPD course will be led by Edinburgh University and available in Summer 2024, initially for local planning professionals. The course modules will then be made freely available to the wider public sector to raise awareness of the technologies involved and the role of hydrogen in the energy mix.

Question reference: S6W-27174

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on funding for a Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is funding the Hydrogen Business Development service, delivered through the Energy Technology Partnership, to accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and enterprises to stimulate innovation in the hydrogen sector.

The ETP Hydrogen Innovation Programme began in July 2022 and supports a dedicated Hydrogen Business Development Manager, who facilitates pooling of academic knowledge and expertise to enable co-ordinated research activities, leading to new areas of innovation.

The Hydrogen Business Development Manager works alongside the 14 ETP member universities and aims to build mutually beneficial relationships across the hydrogen energy sector, while identifying EU, UK & International funding opportunities, as well as hosting key engagement events.

Question reference: S6W-27150

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its ambition for onshore and offshore wind development in Scotland supporting 5GW of hydrogen by 2030, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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.

Question reference: S6W-27167

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is (a) strengthening existing relationships and (b) developing new bilateral partnerships in relation to the potential of hydrogen, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

We are continuously working to strengthen and develop new relationships through our international hydrogen engagement programme.

Given the increased interest in hydrogen imports from across Europe, we continue to work with the UK Government to establish key strategic partnership with Scotland’s near northern neighbours that can assist the development of a North Sea hydrogen corridor for the production and export of hydrogen into the North of Europe and beyond.

We recognise that international co-operation will be key to developing future hydrogen markets and their supporting infrastructure and we will continue to seek out opportunities to collaborate through projects such as the Hydrogen Backbone Link and the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers for Hydrogen Transport from Scotland to Rotterdam project .

We have already signed several key strategic hydrogen partnership agreements with Denmark, key German states including Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and, Occitania in France and we continue to work to maximise their outputs. Scotland is also a member of Hydrogen Europe and the Vanguard initiative, allowing further collaboration with key strategic European partners.

Question reference: S6W-27162

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the establishment of hydrogen transportation infrastructure to support the export of hydrogen to the rest of the UK and Europe, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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.

Question reference: S6W-27166

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in supporting a growing Scottish skills base in hydrogen for transport, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is working with many partners to develop Scotland’s skills base in hydrogen for transport.

These include working with the Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) on the Hydrogen Skills Project (HSP). HSP Automotive and Hydrogen Training Networks now have access to cutting edge hydrogen fuel cell technology learning resources. The networks have conducted learning and development activities across Scotland, showcasing their capabilities at the annual All-Energy Conferences in Glasgow.

Support from Transport Scotland enabled the ESP to acquire a hydrogen fuel cell trainer , a hybrid hydrogen energy lab system and related kit to be sited at Dundee’s Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) skills academy. Available to colleges within the HSP training network, this is part of a larger plan to have a range of training equipment at MSIP to help support hydrogen skills within Scotland.

The ESP has also worked with Aberdeen City Council , H2 Aberdeen , H2 Accelerator , HyTrEc2 and SMART-HY-AWARE to produce an accessible Hydrogen for Transport Course aimed at those joining a hydrogen transport industry, including school and college students. In the maritime sector, the University of Highlands and Islands Orkney took their first cohort of seafarers to be trained to work on hydrogen powered vessels in 2021.

Question reference: S6W-27164

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in creating a visible pipeline of hydrogen projects, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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.

Question reference: S6W-27168

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in developing a supportive framework to realise Scotland’s hydrogen export potential, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

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 Hydrogen Sector Export Plan will consider the short-term export opportunities around skills and the supply chain, as well as the economic opportunity for Scotland represented by the export of renewable hydrogen in the longer term.

To support the development of the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan, the Scottish Government have commissioned research to investigate low-carbon hydrogen demand scenarios in North-West European regions and sectors up to 2045.

This work will sit alongside research being conducted on the economic competitiveness of hydrogen in various sectors and end-uses, such as for aviation transport or for refineries, to establish the most likely off-taker markets for hydrogen and the current best estimates for the likely size of these markets.

Research has also been commissioned to map the key markets and opportunities for Scottish hydrogen supply chain goods and services. Together, this research will provide a robust evidence base demonstrating economic opportunity for hydrogen in Europe according to current available data.

The Hydrogen Sector Export Plan will be published later this year alongside a suite of research, including the North Sea Hydrogen Alliance project conducted by NZTC in partnership with Cruh21 which will match Scottish hydrogen production with German demand.

Question reference: S6W-27153

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 13 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the development of Regional Hydrogen Hubs where production is coupled with multiple end use applications and helping to stimulate demand, as set out in its Hydrogen Action Plan.

There are several Regional Hydrogen Hubs developing in Scotland. We have provided up to £15m to support the development of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub which is now developing as a joint venture between Aberdeen City Council and Bp.

Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub presents an important opportunity to deliver a commercially investable, green hydrogen production facility focussed initially on the decarbonisation of transport and phased to grow into other markets such as industrial heat.

We are building the evidence base to help support other hydrogen hubs to develop in Scotland, examining hydrogen production and potential 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 .

Data from these reports is also included in Scotland’s Hydrogen Asset online map .

We also published a report last year on the potential capability and interest in Scotland in developing a SAF sector, which could become a major end-use of hydrogen. That report can be found here .

Further engagement in support of hydrogen hub development is ongoing.

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