A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between gas distribution firm SGN and renewables generator, RWE, will see the companies investigate the development of electrolysers, powered by RWE’s onshore wind farms to supply homes and businesses with hydrogen gas.
The partnership is set to investigate the decarbonisation of homes and businesses in Campbeltown, Stornoway, Oban, Thurso, and Wick in Scotland, UK, which are not connected to mains gas.
Networks in the communities are currently supplied by liquified natural gas (LNG) and liquified petroleum gas (LPG), which if swapped to hydrogen has the potential to save 21,000 tonnes of carbon each year, decarbonising around 9,500 properties.
H2 View understands the companies will also conduct a feasibility study into a 100MW electrolyser at RWE’s Markinch CHP biomass plant, which would produce green hydrogen from local and grid connected renewable energy to connect to SGN’s gas network in Fife.
Steve Boughton, Director of Hydrogen Development at RWE, said, “This MoU is a perfect partnership to develop options for the decarbonisation of domestic and business gas networks, and to help the Government achieve its ambitions for 10GW of hydrogen production.
“Hydrogen will play an essential role in the pathway to Net Zero, particularly in industry and homes which is hard to decarbonise, and RWE is perfectly positioned to support the development of the UK hydrogen economy.”
In April this year (2022), the UK Government announced it planned to raise domestic low-carbon hydrogen production from 5GW to 10GW by 2030.
It is hoped that findings from the studies will be utilised to better understand the practicalities and economics of the hydrogen cycle and will open the door for investment into large-scale projects of this type.
Fergus Tickell, System Transformation and Business Development Lead at SGN, said, “We’re delighted to partner with RWE which shares our belief that hydrogen gas has a leading role in the decarbonisation of homes, businesses, and industry in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
“We’ll explore how hydrogen produced locally can be delivered through the world-class networks we’ve been operating for decades, to all of Scotland’s communities. We also look forward to investigating more opportunities across the UK.”
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