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help reduce CO₂ emissions from produces CO₂ as well as hydrogen. emissions and hydrogen generation.
fossil power generation. As a result of the CO₂ emissions, One of these projects is Acorn, based
production from SMR is often not in north east Scotland. As the developer
Hydrogen for decarbonisation considered to be low carbon. However, of Acorn, a recognised European Project
Although Scotland and the UK continue there is a significant opportunity to of Common Interest, the team at Pale
to make significant progress in produce ‘clean hydrogen’ from SMR – Blue Dot Energy has been working
decarbonising our electricity supply by capturing the waste CO₂ and storing in the UK CCS space for well over a
through renewables, 55 per cent of it underground. The Acorn CCS and decade. Acorn has been designed
Scotland’s energy consumption is from Hydrogen project in Aberdeenshire has specifically to learn from the past and
heat and 25 per cent is from transport. the potential to do exactly that, storing be robust for the future – a low-cost
We need to look at how to cost effectively the waste CO₂ deep below the North option that makes the best use of legacy
decarbonise our heating and transport, Sea seabed. This will slash the costs of oil and gas infrastructure in order to
and a key contributor to this is hydrogen. producing clean hydrogen and allow the unlock the very large scale CO₂ storage
There are two ways to produce industry to scale quickly, decarbonising potential of the UK Central North Sea
clean hydrogen: electrolysis of water more of the economy. and support emitters in Scotland,
using renewable electricity and steam elsewhere in the UK and all around
methane reforming (SMR) of natural Progressing real projects the North Sea basin. The St Fergus Gas
gas with CCS. Hydrogen produced by A new wave of UK projects is emerging, Terminal is where 35 per cent of the
electrolysis is a low-carbon but high-cost showing that industry is ready and UK’s carbon in the form of natural gas
method of production. In 2019, 95 per willing to move forward. Some of these supply comes onshore. Some of this
cent of the world’s hydrogen production developments look very different natural gas could be converted into
is from steam methane reforming from their predecessors in the CCUS hydrogen and then blended into the
of natural gas, which unfortunately industry; focusing on reducing industrial national gas transmission system as it

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