The UK Government has chosen two green hydrogen projects being developed by SSE to advance to the last phase of its Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. The fund’s goal is to support the development and implementation of innovative low-carbon hydrogen production in order to lower investment risk and overall costs. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will commence negotiations with SSE to provide help for its Gordonbush Hydrogen and Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder projects after conducting its due diligence.
The Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder project is being developed in East Yorkshire at the SSE thermal gas storage facility. The Pathfinder project is expected to commence operations by 2025. When supply is ample, the project will utilise green power obtained from the grid, in accordance with the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard. A 35 MW electrolyser will be used to produce hydrogen which will be stored in a converted salt cavern. A 100 per cent hydrogen-fired open-cycle gas turbine will then be used to generate flexible green electricity that could be exported back to the grid when the system requires it.
The Gordonbush onshore wind project is located in Sutherland. This project intends to manufacture and supply green hydrogen with the use of electrolysis and renewable energy derived from 100 MW plant of SSE Renewables. Upon completion, the Gordonbush Hydrogen project is expected to electrolyze up to 1,300 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.
REGlobal’s Views: Low-carbon hydrogen has emerged as an important technology for the UK in its journey towards net zero. These two projects, selected by the government for financing support, will help promote scale-up of green hydrogen project uptake. Meanwhile, they will significantly help SSE in developing its green hydrogen value chain, from production to storage to electricity generation.
