Iberdrola is promoting a green hydrogen project in the United Kingdom with the country's largest electrolyser
Iberdrola, through its British subsidiary ScottishPower, has submitted an application to build a green hydrogen plant next to its Whitelee wind farm, of 539 megawatts (MW), which will be the UK's largest of this technology, and will include the country's largest electrolyser, with 20 MW, the company said.
Specifically, the facility will include a hybrid solar energy system that will power the electrolyser, as well as a battery storage system with a maximum capacity of 50 MW.
This new project thus represents a new step in the commitment of the group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán to play a leading role in the development of green hydrogen in Europe, as a tool for the decarbonisation of industry and transport or heavy mobility in countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom, in addition to developing the value chain.
In this regard, the company has submitted 53 projects to the Next Generation EU programme, which would activate 2,500 million euros in investments to achieve an annual production of 60,000 tonnes per year.
This UK project is the first green hydrogen plant to be built by Green Hydrogen for Scotland, the alliance of Iberdrola subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, together with BOC and ITM Power, with the aim of creating a green hydrogen production network and offering comprehensive market solutions to reduce emissions from sectors that are difficult to decarbonise, such as heavy transport, urban transport (buses) and waste collection trucks.
The project will help clean up emissions from heavy public transport and improve air quality in the Glasgow metropolitan area, a city that will host the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this year and aims to become the UK's first zero-emission municipality by 2030 by, among other initiatives, creating a fleet of zero-emission vehicles, using only electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Iberdrola's subsidiary will lead the project, BOC will be responsible for its design and operation, based on wind and solar energy produced by ScottishPower Renewables, and the electrolyser will be supplied by ITM Power. Green Hydrogen for Scotland expects the project to be authorised by the end of autumn this year and the plant is expected to be operational before 2023.
Barry Carruthers, ScottishPower's Hydrogen Director, noted that "Whitelee keeps breaking barriers, first the UK's largest onshore wind farm, and soon to be home to the UK's largest electrolyser."
"The site has played a vital role in helping the UK to decarbonise and we look forward to delivering another vital form of zero carbon energy generation at the site to help Glasgow and Scotland achieve their net zero goals," he added.