A new Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council report has today been launched to support industry planning for repurposing of oil and gas infrastructure for green and blue hydrogen production in the UK Continental Shelf. The report was commissioned from engineering and technical consultancy Vysus Group.
Report publication follows the recent Crown Estate Scotland The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process for offshore wind farms to help decarbonise Scotland’s oil and gas sector and the opening of the Scottish Government’s consultation on a new planning process which will inform the areas to be made available for seabed leases.
The UK Government Hydrogen Strategy aims to make the UK a pioneer world-leading hydrogen economy, with ambitions to create over 9,000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion worth of investment by 2030.
Brian McFarlane, SOWEC’s Co-Chair said: “Offshore wind is at the heart of a successful energy transition. Scotland has a world-class supply chain working in oil and gas and maritime engineering. This report highlights the readiness of Scottish companies to shift into hydrogen, and also sets out a route map on the political, economic, regulatory, and technological steps needed to enable the transition.”
Vysus Group Principal Consultant, Ian Thomas, said: “We are fully committed to supporting the energy transition and are extremely pleased to have played such a crucial role in this project. Our extensive experience in offshore supply chains, offshore and onshore licensing regimes and supporting government regulators coupled with our proven delivery in safety and environmental risk management, has helped us achieve the objectives of SOWEC, and to help inform the process of energy transition.
The report and a summary version are available to download from the Offshore Wind Scotland website: https://www.offshorewindscotland.org.uk/sowec/sowec-publications
- Report provides overview of existing policy and regulatory landscape, cost estimates for necessary supply chain and infrastructure and compares options for onshore and offshore production
- Report reviews capacity and interest amongst developers to support hydrogen production growth from late 2020s to 2050s
- The report sets out a series of recommendations for further work as part of a route map to support growth of hydrogen production using oil and gas infrastructure.
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