SCOTTISH hydrogen experts Logan Energy and renewables specialists Locogen have been given the go-ahead for a ground-breaking £3 million green distillery project.
The firms have been granted planning permission for a wind turbine and electrolyser at Arbikie Distillery near Montrose.
The development will enable the distillery to power its operations from environmentally-sustainable green hydrogen, which is hydrogen created using renewable electricity from the wind turbine and local water sources.
The project is expected to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using hydrogen in distillation and similar processes and “has huge potential to be replicated in other industry settings”.
It has been backed by a £3m funding award from the UK Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Green Distilleries competition.
Planning permission for the wind turbine, connecting cables and hydrogen electrolyser compound has now been granted by Angus Council with unanimous support from councillors.
East Lothian-based Logan Energy and Edinburgh-based Locogen are now preparing to start work on site at Arbikie later this summer, with installation of the wind turbine scheduled for November.
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The aim is for the new hydrogen system to be in operation next year. It will help displace the oil which the distillery currently uses to make steam for the distillation process.
The Green Distilleries fund aims to help distilleries cut CO2 emissions by one million tonnes, contributing to Scottish and UK net zero targets.
Bill Ireland, chief executive of Logan Energy, said that as demand to switch to net zero technologies continues to grow, the project is “a further example of the important role hydrogen can play".
He said: “We’re incredibly proud to be supporting businesses with their net zero ambitions, and especially so in this project as we are helping a Scottish distillery demonstrate real green credentials.”
Andy Lyle, chief executive of Locogen, said: “This is a great step forward for Arbikie as we help them demonstrate how distilleries, and the wider process industries, can use new technologies to create cleaner, sustainable businesses.”
John Stirling, director at Arbikie Distillery, said: “We aim to be one of the world’s most sustainable distilleries so being able to use green hydrogen power will be another significant step in our sustainability journey.”
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The Arbikie project will comprise a single 1MW wind turbine on Arbikie’s farmland, which will export its generation to a green hydrogen hub via a dedicated private wire. The green hydrogen hub will be based at Arbikie Distillery and comprise an electrolyser, compressor and storage.
Green hydrogen will be created by the electrolyser and a direct pipe will take the stored hydrogen from the storage vessel to the existing plant room. A burner and boiler compatible with burning hydrogen will then be used to create steam which will deliver the heat for distillation.
It comes as distiller Whyte and Mackay is also expected to be one of the first users of green hydrogen produced from a separate planned electrolyser on the Cromarty Firth.
Whyte and Mackay believes its decarbonisation drive would be boosted by a scaling up of the clean gas production plant that would be enabled by green freeport status.
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