By Bill Ireland

WHETHER it’s the rare gas critical to the production of computer chips or steel that comes from Ukraine or semiconductors from Taiwan, supply chains are being put under critical pressure.

As an independent integrator and manufacturer of hydrogen systems, Logan Energy procures components from all over the world because we can’t get them here. We use Siemens control units, but those units contain chips from Taiwan and the delivery of those has gone from a week to at least eight weeks.

That delay is down to geopolitical tensions. When floods devastated the state of Queensland a few years back, the global steel price went through the roof. That’s because 50 per cent of the world’s coking coal, a key ingredient in steel production, comes from Queensland and they couldn’t get the coal out to the foundries. Natural disasters like floods are only going to be more common in the years to come, sadly.

In Scotland there is no hydrogen-producing electrolyser manufacturer and no hydrogen compressor or cylinder manufacturer. These components are all being made in places like the Netherlands, Italy, or Germany. Even from these geographically-close countries, delivery times for electrolysers have gone from 12 months to 18 months or even two years.

Several countries have made bold statements about producing a huge number of gigawatts of green hydrogen by 2030. The problem is there is insufficient capacity in the world's electrolyser stock to deliver more than 10% of that.

A problem, however, is also an opportunity for companies like Logan Energy.

Look at Australia, for example. Like us, they have been buying in all their technology but a relatively small company, Fortescue Future Industries, is looking to manufacture their own electrolysers and compressors for distribution of hydrogen made from renewables within Australia.

We need to do the same thing in Scotland and be more self-sufficient but to do it we need more government support and greater investment.

Local manufacturing, of course, has all sorts of added benefits for the economy. It means supply chain stability, higher quality assurance, fairer working conditions, and better adherence to safety standards.

But it’s in the battle against global warming and climate change that perhaps it can make the most important difference. Cargo ships produce twp to three per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Moving products by train is much kinder to the planet (especially if they’re hydrogen-powered trains!) and keeping manufacturing local also produces much less waste.

The Scottish Government has a recovery plan for the manufacturing sector and has made admirable commitments to achieving net zero, but we need to start looking closer to home for solutions.

Bill Ireland is chief executive of Logan Energy, an East Lothian-based provider of hydrogen technologies. See https://www.loganenergy.com/