Renewable

October 25 (Renewables Now) - Aberdeen City Council on Monday selected British oil and gas major BP Plc (LON:BP) as the preferred bidder for a commercial partnership to build and operate a solar-powered hydrogen production hub in the Scottish port city.

Under its new role, BP will work with the council to conclude the contractual process for the creation of a joint venture, which will then proceed with the required front end engineering design (FEED) tasks. The objective is to make a final investment decision on the chosen development concept in 2023.

Aberdeen aims at becoming a climate-positive city and one step in this direction is the creation of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub in multiple phases. The first one envisages the construction of a green hydrogen plant by some time in 2024. This project is planned to be supported by a new solar photovoltaic (PV) farm and green power purchase agreements (PPAs). Moreover, it will include a private wire grid connection to produce hydrogen for buses, heavy goods vehicles and large vans.

Production could be scaled up in future phases, with further investments to supply larger volumes of hydrogen for rail, freight and marine, as well as for heat and potentially export. The development could benefit from offshore wind opportunities arising from the ScotWind leasing round and BP is one of the bidders in this competitive process as well, the council notes.