Meeting of the Parliament (Virtual) 11 February 2021
I recognise that interesting proposals have been put forward for a hydrogen coast, so to speak, from the north-east of Scotland all the way up to Shetland. There is enormous interest in that. We have previously set out plans for the A9 to be an electric highway and for investing in an electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet the needs of travellers on that route.
We want to work closely with our partners in local government and the energy sector. Interesting partnerships are emerging in Aberdeen between BP and Aberdeen City Council, which build on the success of the deployment of hydrogen in the city and involve the extension of its use in buses to other modes of transport. We are keen to engage with all interested local authorities and partners to progress plans, and we want to work with industry partners, such as BP in the case of Aberdeen, to get the fuelling infrastructure in place to give motorists the confidence of knowing that they will be able to use the technology to travel freely across Scotland.
We should also be mindful of the fact that, as the use of hydrogen develops in Europe and the rest of the UK, we will need to cater for the heavy goods vehicles and private passenger vehicles that come to Scotland, through tourism or for business purposes, such as carrying freight. Those issues are very much on our minds, and I will be happy to engage with Graham Simpson on them.