Meeting of the Parliament 01 May 2025
I welcome this debate because, amid all the hoo-hah about net zero, just transition, affordable transition or whatever we want to call it, if we asked people whether they would like to be able to use a fuel that gives off nothing but water to power their homes and vehicles, most would say yes. That is, in essence, what hydrogen can deliver, and here in Scotland we can be at the forefront of developing the technology to do just that. It is a great opportunity, as the cabinet secretary said.
As ever, however, we need to get on with it, because, as ever, we are not doing well enough. I will give a small example of that. For all the cabinet secretary’s warm words, it remains true that, although a £100 million hydrogen action plan was announced in 2022, when she was at the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 14 January, she could not say how much of it had been spent. Having said that, I do not want this debate to be a point-scoring exercise, which that committee session was in parts, because I think that we all want pretty much the same thing. That is why we support the Government’s motion, why the amendment in my name is so relentlessly positive—as you would expect from me, Deputy Presiding Officer—and why everyone should support both it and the motion.
The Government has done some good stuff—we must recognise that. There was the £7 million in-year funding for grants to support strategically important green hydrogen projects. Four applications for that were submitted in December. There was another £7 million for the hydrogen innovation scheme, which supported 31 projects. In January, Ms Martin could not say what that had achieved, so I was hoping that today would be the day for that information, and it almost was—she gave us a little bit of detail in her speech.
There was £6 million from the just transition fund to HydroGlen, which is the green hydrogen farming pilot. Another £15 million went to the green hydrogen hub in Aberdeen, with some going to the Storegga green hydrogen project in Speyside, which is working to decarbonise whisky distilling and is working with the local authority to potentially provide green hydrogen for fleets of vehicles. That is all well and good, but the story so far is one of the country having great potential but not quite getting over the line yet.