Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements in the universe. It is highly combustible but has no colour, odour or taste.
Hydrogen is a clean gas, usually found bonded with other elements such as oxygen in water. To produce pure hydrogen, it must undergo a process called electrolysis, which uses an electric current to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
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 improves, electrolyser are becoming more powerful and cheaper to build on the scale required for mass use. Fuel cells powered by Hydrogen would only create heat and water as a by-product and could be used to replace combustion engines.
Hydrogen fuel cells may also power heavy transport, including ships, while Airbus is exploring hydrogen aircraft designs for short-haul flights by 2035.
Hydrogen technologies are already developing in key industries. In 2021, the Swedish steel company SSAB produced the first fossil-free steel using hydrogen, demonstrating its potential to decarbonise heavy industry.
To support wider use, the UK will need new storage facilities, supply networks and carbon capture, utilisation and storage infrastructure. In 2025, the Scottish Government funded eleven hydrogen projects to accelerate Scotland’s developing hydrogen economy. 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.