Hydrogen hub pitched by bp, Aberdeen

Oil major bp and the city of Aberdeen, Scotland have formed a joint venture to build a scalable green hydrogen production, storage and distribution facility in the city powered by renewable energy.

The Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub is to be developed in three phases in response to growing demands for hydrogen.

Phase one, which involves delivery of a green hydrogen production and transport refueling facility powered by a solar farm, is targeting first production from 2024, delivering over 800 kg of green hydrogen per day – enough to fuel 25 buses and a similar number of other fleet vehicles.

Aberdeen City Council and bp sign joint venture agreement to develop city hydrogen hub. (Image: bp)

Aberdeen City Council and bp – which will operate the joint venture under the name bp Aberdeen Hydrogen Energy Ltd. – have committed £3 million for initial design work with a final investment decision for the phase one facility build expected in early 2023.

Future phases could see production scaled up through further investment to supply larger volumes of green hydrogen for rail, freight and marine, as well as supply of hydrogen for heat and potentially export. This expansion would be enabled by the expected increased availability of local renewable energy sources, including developments that emerge from the ScotWind offshore wind leasing round.

The Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub program will support Aberdeen City Council’s ambitions to create a climate positive city and build inclusive growth through supporting hydrogen supply chain development, skills and training, and wider community benefits.

A study commissioned by Aberdeen City Council on the growth in demand for hydrogen power estimates that if the hydrogen hub enables the export of renewable hydrogen, then up to 700 skilled jobs could be created in the hydrogen industry by 2030.

bp expects to partner with 10 to 15 cities globally by 2030 to provide integrated ‎and decarbonized energy solutions at scale to help them achieve their goals of net zero emissions. bp also aims to capture 10% of the low carbon hydrogen market in key geographies by 2030.

“bp is investing across all the energy transition growth areas in the UK,” said Louise Kingham CBE, bp’s UK head of country and senior vice president for Europe. “In fact, we have committed to spend £2 in the UK for every £1 generated here out to the middle of this decade.

“Today’s announcement is evidence of that commitment in action and is supported by other ambitious plans to produce clean energy from UK offshore wind, develop carbon capture in Teesside and grow the country’s electric vehicle charging network.”