Benefits
By developing a cutting-edge and accessible demonstration project in the Scottish central belt, the Hydrogen Office Demonstration Centre offers many benefits for Scotland.
Commercially the project will:
- Help to attract investment, and boost the development of green jobs for Scotland in a global market that is estimated to be worth $46 billion by 2011.
- Improve the future security of our energy supply by working to accelerate the development of technologies that can help reduce dependence on imported oil and gas from countries like Iran, Iraq and Russia.
Environmentally the project will:
- Work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by promoting cost effective energy saving measures, and supporting the development and adoption of cleaner and more efficient technologies.
The Scottish Opportunity
It is estimated that Scotland has six times more renewable energy potential than it currently uses in electrical energy annually.
Energy storage technologies such as hydrogen increase Scotland’s capability to more fully harness its vast renewable energy resources, offering significant long-term employment and carbon reduction benefits. Notably, energy storage technologies bring into play opportunities not currently open to intermittent renewable energy sources, including: grid balancing and peak power provision; demand for renewable electricity during surplus production; a scalable low carbon transport fuel with capacity to power heavy and long distance transport needs; and the production of industrial feedstock’s (such as ammonia for fertilizer). As demonstrated at the Hydrogen Office, this technology is operational now and is a technology that Scotland has a competitive advantage in.
Fuel cells offer significant efficiency and carbon benefits. They are technically, and increasingly commercially viable today, for a wide range of applications using a number of fuel sources, including natural gas, biogas, methanol and hydrogen, and are capable of delivering zero carbon energy. In short, energy storage technologies enable Scotland to harness its vast renewable energy resources with greater ambition, scope and reliance by bringing into play new uses for this energy. Hydrogen is a technically proven and versatile energy vector that covers a wide range of applications, and through companies like the Pure Energy Centre, is a technology that Scotland enjoys a genuine competitive edge. Fuel cells offer significant efficiency and carbon reduction benefits. In Logan Energy, Scotland and has one of the worlds leading fuel cell installers.
