Plans For £45m Scottish Green Hydrogen Production Plant Revealed
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
This is the opening paragraph.
UK-built hydrogen buses powered by Scottish-made green hydrogen, transporting COP26 delegates around Glasgow in 2021: that’s the vision of a new £45m project unveiled today (3rd Nov).
Some details of the plant are also given.
- It will be built at Lesmahagow.
- It will be co-located with wind turbines and solar panels.
- It will have an initial capacity of 9 MW, with a possible increase to 20 MW.
- It will produce 800 tonnes of hydrogen per annum.
- The company behind it, is called Hy2Go
It sounds like the electrolyser is the one mentioned in Green Hydrogen For Scotland, which was announced in a press release from ITM Power.
Although, that electrolyser may be situated at Whitelee Wind Farm, which is a few miles closer to the coast.
Will Scotland Have Two Electrolysers To the South Of Glasgow?
Consider.
- Whitelee is the UK’s largest onshore wind farm with a capacity of 539 MW.
- It is planned to install a large battery at Whitelee. See Super Battery Plan To Boost UK’s Biggest Onshore Windfarm on this page on the Scottish Power web site.
- Lesmahagow’s turbines and solar panels have not been installed yet.
- Much of the wind power in the South of Scotland and the North of England is mainly onshore, rather than onshore.
- The location of the Lesmahagow electrolyser will be close to the M74.
- The location of the Whitelee electrolyser will be close to the M77.
- There is a good motorway network linking the electrolysers’ to the major cities in the South of Scotland and the North of England.
- Newcastle might be a bit difficult to supply, but that may receive hydrogen from Teesside or the Humber.
Perhaps, the economics of onshore wind, with electrolysers nearby, makes for an affordable source of plentiful green hydrogen.
I would expect that if Scotland built two large electrolysers South of Glasgow, they wouldn’t have too much trouble using the hydrogen to reduce the country’s and the North of England’s carbon footprint.
Have These Two Projects Merged?
Consider.
- The Lesmahagow site is stated in the article to possibly have two electrolysers with a total capacity of 20 MW.
- The Lesmahagow site is in an excellent position close to a junction to the M74 motorway, with easy access to Edinburgh, Glasgow and England.
- The Lesmahagow site could probably have a pipeline to a hydrogen filling station for trucks and other vehicles on the M74.
- The Whitelee wind farm is huge.
- Lesmahagow and Whitelee are about twenty miles apart.
- More wind turbines might be possible between the two sites.
- There must also be a high-capacity grid connection at Whitelee.
Combining the two projects could have advantages.
- There could be cost savings on the infrastructure.
- It might be easier to add more wind turbines.
There may be time savings to be made, so that hydrogen is available for COP26.
Conclusion
Scotland is making a bold green statement for COP26.
A network of very large hydrogen electrolysers is stating to emerge.
- Glasgow – Lesmahagow.
- Herne Bay for London and the South East – Planning permission has been obtained.
- Humber – In planning
- Runcorn for North West England – Existing supply
- Teesside – Existing supply
Joe Bamford’s dream of thousands of hydrogen-powered buses, is beginning to become a reality.
The Anonymous Widower 
[…] The plant is at Lesmahagow as I reported in Plans For £45m Scottish Green Hydrogen Production Plant Revealed. […]
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You say consider:
There is a good motorway network linking the electrolysers’ to the major cities in the South of Scotland and the North of England.
Newcastle might be a bit difficult to supply, but that may receive hydrogen from Teesside or the Humber.
Newcastle is not difficult from Lesmahagow.
The route is M74 south, A74(M) south, M6 south, leave at J44 (Carlisle North), A689 east to Brampton, then A69 to the A1 at Newcastle.
Carlisle to:
Newcastle A1 = 55 miles
Preston M6 Ribble Valley = 95 miles
Manchester = 126 miles
Liverpool = 131 miles
The A689/A69 route is an all weather open all year low level route from west to east, the highest point being near Gilsland at 228m (750ft) which is the watershed between the Eden/Irthing and Tyne catchment areas. The A689/A69 route is single carriageway Carlisle to Hexham then dual carriageway to the A1. All the towns and villages have been bypassed so HGVs can easily manage 50mph. This is the HGV route from south west Scotland/Strathclyde to Tyne and Wear. [Note – M6 J43 A69 Carlisle to Brampton is not used as this requires passing through Warwick Bridge where there is a 30mph restriction, a set of traffic lights and a s-bend bridge over the River Eden. HGVs can pass on the bridge but not on the bends at either side of the bridge).
Thus you can arrive at the A1 Newcastle much sooner than Merseyside or Greater Manchester.
And Sunderland (Stagecoach gas bus fleet) can also be easily reached by dual carriageway roads from the A1.
Comment by Trevor | January 6, 2021 |
As you say, I don’t think there will be problems.
Manchester and Liverpool will get hydrogen from Runcorn and the Mersey estuary.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a big electrolyser built at Heysham. Lots of wind power, possible tidal power and all backed up by a couple of nukes.
Comment by AnonW | January 6, 2021 |