ZeroAvia, ScottishPower agree to develop hydrogen supply to airports

LONDON (ICIS)–ZeroAvia and ScottishPower have struck an agreement to explore the development of low-carbon hydrogen supply to key airport locations across the north of the UK, it was announced on 10 January.

The agreement will see the two companies explore hydrogen production infrastructure for ZeroAvia sites within ScottishPower’s distribution network across Scotland, northwest England, and north Wales.

Further exploration surrounding supply models and project financing will also form part of the agreement.

SCOTTISH HYDROGEN AMBITIONS

Scotland is seeking to have 5GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyser capacity up and running by 2030, accounting for the bulk of the UK’s 6GW target over the same period.

Scotland has ambitions to become a net exporter of renewable hydrogen in the coming years, taking advantage of its large renewable resource in the form of offshore wind turbines.

Indeed, Scotland has some of Europe’s highest capacity factors for offshore wind at around the 60% mark, and with over 30GW of projects capacity accepted through both Scotwind and Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds, offshore wind capacity is set to swell in the coming years.

However, the location of the wind turbines in the north of the country are not located close to a large demand source, unlike the hydrogen cluster approach.

As a result, Scotland is seeking to export hydrogen to the rest of the UK and towards Germany, potentially via a dedicated pipeline in the North Sea, with the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) having received £200,000 of funding from the Scottish Government to research the project.