The Whitelee green hydrogen project will become the UK’s largest electrolyser, a system which converts water into hydrogen gas as a way to store energy.
Hydrogen is seen as a key replacement for fossil fuels in certain applications as the world moves towards decarbonisation. It produces just heat and water as by-products when burned or used in fuel cells, making it a highly attractive alternative to fossil fuels in industry, power, shipping and transport.
Hydrogen is categorised differently depending on how it is produced: either green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water by electrolysis, or blue hydrogen, which is produced by splitting natural gas. Currently, the vast majority of the world’s hydrogen fuel is created with natural gas, not water.
While green hydrogen can be a zero-emission fuel when electrolysis is powered by renewables, blue hydrogen can only be described as a net-zero carbon fuel when used in conjunction with carbon capture...