Aberdeen City Council on Monday (Oct 25) announced the oil and gas major as its preferred bidder for the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub concept which will target green hydrogen production by 2024.

Such hydrogen production will come from what is believed to be Scotland’s first scalable green hydrogen production facility. Hydrogen produced at the site, will support hydrogen vehicles, particularly buses, heavy goods vehicles and large vans.

Whilst production is currently more focused for vehicles, Aberdeen City Council says that larger supply volumes of the energy carrier could also support rail, freight and marine, as well as for heat and potentially export.

Councillor Jenny Laing, Aberdeen City Council Leader, said, “This is a huge announcement for Aberdeen. It paves the way for the city to be a world leader in the production of hydrogen-based green fuel and energy.

“It will help create a cleaner, more sustainable city for local people and it also provides us with the opportunity to create hundreds of skilled jobs and add millions to the Aberdeen economy.”

“There is tremendous investment potential, and we already have deep-rooted skills and experience in the energy sector to tap into. Aberdeen has a worldwide reputation as a pioneering hydrogen city with a net zero vision.”

Louise Kingham OBE, bp’s UK Head of Country and Senior Vice-President for Europe, added, “bp wants to play a leading role in Scotland’s energy transition as is evidenced by this news and our transformational bid in the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round.

“These new business opportunities are underpinned by our 50-plus years if operations in the North Sea where, based out of Aberdeen, we have built up vast skills and experience that are directly transferable to emerging energy industries.”