A fresh look at hydrogen: Scotland’s clean energy opportunity
Hydrogen is much talked about but do you know what it is and why it’s important as a renewable energy source? When I started at Copper, I knew little about hydrogen, but reading up on one of our Scottish hydrogen projects with RWE in Grangemouth got me thinking about the fact it needs to be explained more simply.
You know how electrification seems everywhere these days? Everything’s getting plugged in—except those sectors resisting, like heavy transport, steel-making and distilleries. That’s where hydrogen comes in. It’s the missing piece of our clean-energy puzzle.
So, what’s hydrogen doing here?
Hydrogen is an energy carrier—like a high-octane battery. Green hydrogen (made by splitting water with renewable electricity) is zero-carbon, perfect for hard-to-clean sectors. Scotland, with its rugged and blowy coasts and tidal powerzones (hello to friends in Orkney!), has all the right ingredients. In Orkney, surplus wind and tidal energy is already being turned into hydrogen—and powering vehicles and heating local schools.
Why Scotland is primed for hydrogen greatness
Our renewable ambitions are serious. We generated the equivalent of 113% of our electricity needs from renewables in 2022 and we of course don’t want anything to go to waste, so hydrogen can soak up the surplus power.
Scotland aims to reach 25 GW of hydrogen production—including both green and low-carbon hydrogen—by 2045. We’re even building 13 regional hydrogen hubs to cover production, storage, distribution and export.
Funds, jobs and the export opportunity
The Scottish Government has offered up to £7 million for green hydrogen projects—even up to £2 million in match funding per project—and is ramping up innovation schemes. On top of that, another £3.4 million is driving 11 hydrogen accelerators across the country.
Looking ahead, ambitious projects like the Kintore Hydrogen development in Aberdeenshire could become Europe’s largest—starting with 500 MW by 2028, scaling to 3 GW within a decade. If all goes well, that could create thousands of jobs.
Meanwhile, the Grangemouth refinery is set to transition into a green-fuels hub—with £200 million from Westminster, plus £25 million from Holyrood, aiming to replace lost oil-industry jobs with clean-energy work.
What it means for us
Taken together, these developments show why hydrogen matters for Scotland. It offers a way to use surplus renewable power efficiently, decarbonise sectors electricity alone can’t reach, create new jobs, and establish Scotland as an energy exporter in a low-carbon world.
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