A new public hydrogen refuelling station has opened at Wallyford, less than a mile off the A1 and 8 miles to the east of Edinburgh.
The Logan Energy station supplies vans, trucks and buses with hydrogen at 350 bar; it is the first in Scotland’s Central Belt and the only hydrogen station between Aberdeen and Sheffield.
Logan Energy has a "strong belief in the hydrogen economy and its role in the future energy system", and has financed the station itself. It hopes that "it will encourage people to consider hydrogen vehicles as viable green transport options".
Bill Ireland, CEO of Logan Energy, said: “While hydrogen-powered electric vehicles offer real reductions in CO2 and other harmful emissions, the widespread uptake of these vehicles is restricted by the lack of investment in the deployment of refuelling stations.
“Refuelling is often offered as a package alongside the deployment of a fleet of hydrogen vehicles but without a proper refuelling infrastructure in Scotland, it is hard to get the buy in for investment in hydrogen vehicles. In turn, this lack of demand has made it harder than ever to create a case for building a proper refuelling infrastructure.”
The UK government has provided £30m funding to support several hydrogen projects across the UK to test the role of hydrogen in reducing carbon emissions from industry and transport.
Ireland added: “While this recent UK government investment is good news, we need more than just funding support if green hydrogen is to play its part in helping us reach net zero. We need sufficient government support in the form of meaningful policy, backed up with effective 'carrot and stick' legislation for both the expansion of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and vehicles in Scotland.
"This needs to happen now as the deployment of the technology won’t happen overnight. With a Scottish ban on fossil fuel vehicle sales by 2032, and UK by 2035, petrol filling stations will start to see a decrease in revenue imminently and will need to look to the alternatives to survive. Our technology offers part of the solution.”
Logan Energy is developing plans to produce green hydrogen on site, through electrolysis powered by solar power.
