Hydrogen Plant – Renewably powered hydrogen farm ‘HydroGlen’
The concept for the James Hutton Institute-led project is to demonstrate that a rural farm can become energy independent using 100% renewable power for all its heating, transport, and electricity requirements.
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The Scottish Government (Just Transition Fund) funded project’s ambition is to contribute towards the region’s energy transition activities, providing a scalable and replicable concept for farming and other rural communities to acquire the new knowledge required to switch from increasingly high levels of fuel poverty to self-reliant, low-carbon energy producers and exporters.
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HydroGlen will use renewable electricity, generated by on site wind turbines and solar array panels. Alongside short-term battery storage, a hydrogen plant will utilise the renewable energy from the turbines and solar array to power electrolysers which will split water into its hydrogen and oxygen components.
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The green hydrogen generated will be compressed into storage cylinders for local use on site. A fuel cell will be used to convert stored hydrogen back into electricity for buildings and farm use as required. An onsite hydrogen fueling station will provide fuel to hydrogen powered vehicles including tractors.
Client
Thornton Tomasetti
Partners and Collaborators
Water to Water
ITPE Energised
The James Hutton Institute
Thornton Tomasetti
Location
Scotland
Sectors
Energy
Resource Recovery
Services
Multi-disciplinary engineering design
Point cloud survey & 3D modelling
Compliance consultancy
Project management & controls
The HydroGlen project brought together a collaborative team of experts with work packages assigned to partner organisations. Our experts carried out the design for the hydrogen plant and managed the work package interfaces.
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The main components of the hydrogen plant are the electrolyslers, compressors, storage, vehicle refueling equipment, and fuel cell.
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The design provided for the variability of renewable electricity, with the electrolysers operating on frequent duty cycles.
Our experts provided a multi-disciplinary engineering design service, to allow the client to progress the project to the design and build phase.