Hydrogen is one of the most plentiful elements in the universe. It is highly combustible but has no colour, odour, or taste. It is a very clean gas and is usually found bound to other elements such as oxygen and water. To create pure hydrogen, it must go through a process called electrolysis. This technique uses electric current to create a chemical reaction. Fuel cells powered by Hydrogen would only create heat and water as a by-product and could be used to replace combustion engines.
Green Hydrogen is created using renewable energy like wind or solar to power the electrolysis process on a larger scale but is still currently expensive. As new technology and funding improve, electrolyser are becoming more powerful and cheaper to build on the scale required for mass use.
There are already specific areas of hydrogen development where new technologies are making real impact such as: Swedish Steel plant SSAB which has created the first fossil free steel which could help to decarbonise the steel industry.
As fuel cells improve, heavy transport such as container ships could be converted to fuel cells and Air Bus are looking to deploy three new designs for aircraft by 2035 that will use hydrogen for short haul flights.
All of this would work to reduce emissions in very specific polluting areas. To support this the UK will also need to develop new storage facilities and supply networks.
Current utility providers would also need to be integrated into this to create Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) clusters. The UK Government has committed £1 billion to develop CCUS in the UK.
In 2025 the Scottish Government supported eleven projects designed to accelerate Scotland’s hydrogen economy through a share of £3.4 million funding. This will help develop green hydrogen production, improve the hydrogen supply chain, and enhance hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure.
The long-term development of green hydrogen as a clean burning fuel has huge potential for Scotland, helping to decarbonise industrial processes in key sectors such as power generation, iron and steel production and long-distance transport.
This section provides examples of a research, teaching or innovation taking place at The National Subsea Centre, Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University related to this topic.
RGU has been awarded £1.2m of funding by the Scottish Government to establish a hydrogen testing facility at the National Subsea Centre (NSC) in Aberdeen. The First Minister publicly announced funding for this project at the All-Energy Conference (10-11 May 2023) in Glasgow.
Research into large scale subsea hydrogen storage is part of the Integrated Energy research programme undertaken at the National Subsea Centre, created in partnership between Robert Gordon University and the Net Zero Technology Centre. This will help to provide green energy for offshore platforms, the automotive and aerospace industries, and for household heating.