Meeting of the Parliament 01 May 2025
The Scottish Government produced its own hydrogen export plan, which looks into exactly that, but it is not something that Scotland could do alone. We need to be working with the UK Government on it. We need to look at how we can partner with those who want to buy hydrogen that is produced in these isles to get it over there, and Germany is the biggest market for that at the moment. Since the election of the new Government, or in the embers of the previous Government, a great deal of borrowing has been taken on for infrastructure development, and it is critical that the UK Government is in the room with the German Government to talk about how we can improve the infrastructure that is associated with the export of hydrogen.
First, however, we need to be very clear that we need to use our hydrogen domestically, particularly to decarbonise our industry. If we get signals that a market in Germany will take on hydrogen as we produce more and more, that will mean that we have confidence in hydrogen being used domestically on a smaller scale in the meantime.
I am probably running over my speaking time. I have set out a lot of the things that we are doing. A lot of the challenges are well known. It is important for us not to delay on this. We need to speak with one voice, and I hope that we can do so, putting aside our disagreements about where hydrogen is best used. I hope that we can all agree that there is an opportunity for Scotland to capitalise on the fact that we will produce far more green electricity than we can get into our grid, even with the grid upgrades; that that represents a significant opportunity to show that Scotland is a world leader in hydrogen production; and that we must work with other nations on solutions for decarbonising industry. On my party’s benches, we are being consistent on that. I hope that we can also be consistent as a Parliament in driving that ambition forward.
I move,
That the Parliament acknowledges that Scotland has the potential to be a leading hydrogen nation and is fully committed to helping the Scottish hydrogen sector to develop and grow as part of a wider European and international network; notes that, following the successful shortlisting of Scottish projects in the recent UK Hydrogen Allocation Round, Scotland is creating a hydrogen economy that will provide economic benefit and a renewable and low-carbon source of energy to help meet its net zero ambitions; supports efforts to ensure that hydrogen is supported via continued investment, and calls on the Scottish Government to continue taking steps to deliver the hydrogen sector export plan.
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