Scottish Power to bring parent’s hydrogen expertise to northern Europe

With Spanish electric utility Iberdrola planning Europe’s biggest green hydrogen production facility in its homeland, its Scottish Power subsidiary is preparing to do something similar at the other end of the continent.

The U.K.-based power company on Wednesday announced plans to provide solar and wind power to a 10 MW electrolyzer planned on the outskirts of Glasgow which would be producing hydrogen for heavy-duty vehicles within two years.

The Green Hydrogen for Glasgow project would be the first of a planned Scotland-wide hydrogen transport initiative in which Scottish Power is a partner, alongside England-headquartered industrial gas company BOC and electrolyzer manufacturer ITM Power.

Scottish Power issued a press release yesterday which revealed its renewable energy would power an electrolyzer in Glasgow supplied by ITM and operated by BOC, which is part of Guildford-headquartered Linde Group, the world’s largest industrial gas company.

Under the plan, heavy commercial vehicle fleet owners would simply have to “provide the vehicles,” according to Scottish Power Renewables CEO Lindsay McQuade.

With Scotland aiming for a net zero economy by 2045 – five years earlier than U.K. neighbor England – and Glasgow aiming to be the U.K.’s first net-zero city, by 2030, hydrogen transport would be a vital part of the energy transition, alongside electrification.

Scottish Power parent Iberdrola is working on a €150 million green hydrogen project in Puertollano, central Spain, which would include a 100 MW solar plant, 20 MWh of energy storage capacity and a 20 MW electrolyzer. The power company said the facility would be Europe’s largest green hydrogen production plant when operational next year. The project will produce renewable hydrogen for fertilizer company Fertiberia.