An innovative hydrogen project near New Cumnock has been awarded a government grant to create green hydrogen from wind power. 

The Knockshinnoch Green Hydrogen Hub Project, developed by Renantis, will be one of the first fully off-grid renewable hydrogen supply systems in the UK.

The funding award is a result of the latest round of funding from the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF). 

Fifteen projects will share in a total funding award of £37.9 million, though the exact amount being given to the Knockshinnoch project has not been made public.

As part of the funding, the UK Government said new jobs and investment are set to come to Scotland as it unveiled a strategy to scale up affordable, clean, home-grown power and build green industries in Britain.

The project will see wind turbines installed alongside a battery, that will be directly connected to an electrolyser to produce fuel-cell grade hydrogen. The compressed hydrogen is expected to be stored on site before being transferred to mobile trailers to power transport, as well as other hydrogen applications.

The Knockshinnoch Green Hydrogen Hub Project (KGH2P) will aim to deliver one of the first fully off-grid renewable hydrogen supply systems on the mainland UK, as part of this support.

Along with three other projects the KGH2P will be given a share of the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) to develop new low carbon hydrogen production plants are in Scotland.

The Knockshinnoch scheme is being led by global renewable energy developer and operator Renantis, with project partners Logan Energy and Hive (a subsidiary of HyEnergy).

Aiming to deploy turbines with capacities of around 4MW, the hub has the potential to use refurbished turbines to enhance upstream CO2 emissions savings.

Once operational, the hub will look to supply around 160 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.

Saurabh Shah, head of business development for the UK at Renantis, commented: “This flagship project is a first-of-its-kind in mainland UK, combining off-grid green hydrogen with community ownership opportunities to deliver real benefits to the territories that we operate in. 

“In developing this innovative project we are taking a real lead in growing the deployment of hydrogen technology in the UK, setting a strong foundation for the replication of this concept in the UK’s drive to net zero.” 

Bill Ireland, Chief Executive of Logan Energy, added: “This project will be an exemplar for the hydrogen industry demonstrating the potential for energy independence and a realistic way of meeting our net zero goals. 

"The project builds upon our extensive experience of delivering hydrogen energy systems. Hydrogen is produced from the renewable electricity generated from wind turbines. 

"It is then either used when there is a shortfall of onsite generation or is exported. It’s a self-sufficient system with no grid connection and is a model I believe will be replicated elsewhere as we learn to rely less on fossil fuels.

“We believe hydrogen has a significant part to play in the future energy mix, but we need more projects like this and on a larger scale.”

Josh Williamson, director at Hive, said: “This influential project will showcase how the UK can take a crucial step towards realising greater renewables deployment, facilitating its energy dependency targets and unlocking its off-grid potential.

"By combining renewable generation with batteries and electrolysis, this project will demonstrate how hydrogen can play a vital role in maximising domestic energy production both for the benefit of national goals, and regional communities.”

Once operational, the hub will supply around 160 tonnes of green hydrogen per year – enough to power around 20 12-metre buses travelling 75,000 miles per year – to be used for the country’s ever-growing zero-emission bus and truck fleets.

The other Scottish projects in the UK Government's NZHF announcement are located in Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire and Inverness.

However, the announcement sparked anger from the SNP who complained that a 'carbon capture and storage' project in the north-east of Scotland had not been included in the first track of funding.