PLANS to export hydrogen to Europe will be a “gamechanger” for the Scottish economy, according to the Scottish Government’s acting Net Zero Secretary.
Gillian Martin told The National in October last year that the Scottish Government was accelerating plans for a £2.7 billion hydrogen pipeline connecting Scotland to Germany.
The MSP for Aberdeenshire East said that it represented a “great opportunity” for Scotland, with the proposed pipeline key to unlocking an already burgeoning market for Scottish hydrogen in Europe.
Speaking at the Government’s launch of its Green Industrial Strategy on Wednesday, Martin confirmed plans for a pipeline would continue.
“We're actually working on a hydrogen export plan. I'm hoping that that will be out by the end of the year,” she said – adding that other ways in which hydrogen can be exported are also being explored.
“There's a lot of innovation going on around exporting hydrogen by ship as well,” she said – either in the form of liquid hydrogen or ammonia.
Martin added: “We've been having talks with our German counterparts”.
In May, a report commissioned by the Scottish Government from Aberdeen’s Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) and German-based Cruh21 found that Scottish hydrogen exports could meet up to 100% of German import demand by 2045.
But the report also warned that there is a “lack of tangible strategies connecting supply and demand”.
Martin said this was why the Scottish Government are “focusing and putting our efforts into the export plan”.
We know what we've got in terms of the structure to get hydrogen and obviously we know what the demand is going to be, not just in Germany but in other parts of Europe as well,” she added.
“The export of hydrogen is going to be a game changer for the Scottish economy. But the production is going to be a game changer for our domestic emissions as well.”
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), meanwhile, hit out at the Green Industrial Strategy, claiming that it “talks up potential without matching it with the necessary policy”.
STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer added: “International investment to build on the huge opportunities from Scotland’s wind, hydrogen and carbon capture potential is welcome if the terms are set clearly – jobs in our communities, trade union recognition, and a fair share of benefits across the country.
“This is being done all over the world and the Scottish Government has the power to do far more.”
