Scottish Whitelee project receives funding for 10MW electrolyser

The Green Hydrogen for Scotland Consortium today (22 November) announced to receive £9.4 million funding for Whitelee Windfarm Green Hydrogen Phase 1 from the UK government.

The Green Hydrogen for Scotland Consortium is comprised of ScottishPower, BOC and ITM Power. The funding will come from the Energy Innovation Portfolio run by the UK Government Department of Business Energy Innovation and Skills (BEIS), supporting investment for the first development phase for ScottishPower’s 20 MW Whitelee Windfarm hydrogen production and storage facility.

The funding is for a 10 MW electrolyser and associated four tonnes of storage and is the first phase in the development of the 20 MW facility, for which a planning application was submitted in April 2021, to be located in Whitelee Wind Farm near Glasgow, the UK’s largest onshore wind farm. The project will use renewable power to produce hydrogen through water electrolysis. The facility aims to supply hydrogen to the commercial market by the end of 2023.

The Whitelee project aims to enable carbon-free transport and clean air for communities mainly across the city, with Glasgow aiming to become the first net-zero city in the UK by 2030.

Graham Cooley, the CEO of ITM Power, said, “This first project, Green Hydrogen for Glasgow, will see the deployment of the largest electrolyser to date in the UK.”

Barry Carruthers, ScottishPower Hydrogen Director, commented, “Now COP26 has ended, we need to continue to move forward, taking action to invest in the clean, green energy the UK needs to reach Net Zero.”

Jim Mercer, Business President, BOC UK & Ireland, added, “The Green Hydrogen for Glasgow project is both innovative and exciting. It will help to shape the future of energy storage and demonstrate the value of hydrogen to Scotland’s growing low-carbon economy.”