NZTC receives funding for HOP2 hydrogen project

Net Zero Technology Centre has been awarded £2.12M from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund (JTF) to support its Hydrogen Offshore Production Project (HOP2) delivery.

The HOP2 project, delivered over four years, will demonstrate if offshore hydrogen production and storage is feasible at a scale of 500MW to 1GW through repurposing existing oil and gas assets. It will also outline what a new build project for offshore hydrogen production could deliver within the UKCS and the impact of anchoring this emerging sector in Scotland on the regional workforce, supporting a just transition.

It will also harvest the wind resources further from Scottish shores, essential to deliver the 65TWh hydrogen required to achieve Net Zero by 2040.

The project builds on the NZTC led Offshore Hydrogen Production project, which was funded as part of the 2018 BEIS Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply competition, as well as recommendations made in the ‘Technology Driving Green Energy Growth’ report, published in collaboration with the Technology Leadership Board, NZTC, and Accenture.

The report recommends an infrastructure plan should be constructed to transport, transmit, store and manage new energy commodities such as hydrogen, ammonia, renewable electricity and carbon dioxide (CO2), enabling existing infrastructure to be better utilised.

Myrtle Dawes, Director at Net Zero Technology Centre, said, “From enabling rapid scale up of hydrogen infrastructure to leveraging North-East skills and creating new jobs, the HOP2 project will accelerate Scotland’s decarbonisation goals and put it on the map as a leader in hydrogen production, distribution and export.”