#H2Explainer: How can decarbonising Scotland’s industry create high-tech, green jobs?

Our recent Gas Goes Green Innovation Impacts report set out how 17,000 high-tech, green engineering jobs could be created by network companies and supply chain partners in Britain’s industrial heartlands in the next ten years, through hydrogen innovation projects.

SGN, the local gas distribution network for Scotland, has submitted innovation project proposals as part of its business plan to the energy regulator, Ofgem, to invest £2.1bn in decarbonising heavy industry in Scotland’s north-east and central belt, which is home to some of its largest industrial carbon emitters.

As we set out in the Innovation Impacts report, that could create over 4,200 jobs being created by energy networks in the next ten years, with another 3,500 being created by the supply chain partners.

This area’s reliance on natural gas means that it emits 11.9Mt of CO2 emissions per year – that’s the equivalent of 2.6 million cars, or roughly all the cars in Scotland.

SGN’s North-East Network and Industrial Cluster project is laying the foundations for the rapid decarbonisation of this high-emitting sector, proposing to demonstrate the feasibility of a 100% renewable hydrogen energy system that will repurpose the existing gas network to reduce those emissions.

Carbon capture, storage and utilisation is at the heart of the project, which will investigate how feasible it will be to develop a collection network to securely capture, transport and store carbon dioxide emissions from industry in the area, deep underground. 

The development of an offshore hydrogen supergrid - linking hydrogen production and potential storage locations with onshore industrial facilities in the rest of the UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium - is also being assessed, as is the potential for other uses for hydrogen such as road freight, rail and maritime transport and, in the long term, aviation.

By outlining the practical steps that will deliver the Scottish Government’s 2045 net zero target, the project will play a significant part in decarbonising heavy industry and help Scotland assert its position as a frontrunner in the hydrogen economy, accelerating the country’s transition to a greener future.

When it comes to decarbonising Scotland’s heavy industry, SGN’s North-East Network and Industrial Cluster project is another example of how tomorrow’s heat is today opportunity.