The UK government has awarded £9.4mn ($12.6mn) to a consortium consisting of utility Scottish Power, electrolyser manufacturer ITM Power and industrial gases firm BOC to develop a green hydrogen project in Scotland.

ITM will manufacture the 10MW electrolyser in Sheffield, while BOC will handle the project’s engineering and operations.

The electrolyser will be connected to Scottish Power’s 539MW Whitelee windfarm near Glasgow and will produce 900-1,400t/yr of green hydrogen that will initially be used to supply local transport applications.

The facility aims to supply hydrogen to the commercial market by the end of 2023, and will eventually scale up to a 20MW electrolyser. It will have 4t of green hydrogen storage capacity.

“We are very pleased to be a partner in Green Hydrogen for Scotland and this first project, Green Hydrogen for Glasgow, will see the deployment of the largest electrolyser to date in the UK,” says Graham Cooley, ITM CEO.

20MW – Targeted electrolyser capacity in second phase of project

The funding comes from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s net-zero innovation portfolio, which has £1bn in funding to award between 2021 and 2025.

"This project will accelerate development across multiple disciplines—from production and storage to transportation and end-use,” says Jim Mercer, business president for BOC.

Glasgow aims to become the first net-zero city in the UK by 2030.

Backlog

The project forms part of ITM’s contracts backlog and will contribute to its 30pc growth in sales revenue, to £4.28mn, for the 2021 financial year.

The award should help ITM move more projects into the development phase, according to an update from brokerage Arden. “The project, once complete and online, should provide a further example of the successful application of ITM’s technology,” the analyst says.

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Author: Tom Young