Aberdeen City Council leader Jenny Laing together with BOC’s director of Bulk and Packaged Gases Nathan Palmer (see photo) and Transport Scotland chief executive David Middleton opened UK’s first H2 productions and fuel cell bus refuelling facility which will fuel Europe’s largest fuel cell bus fleet.
The Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project has been co-funded by Scottish, UK and European partners: the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK (£2.4million); Scottish Government (£1.7million); Scottish Enterprise (£1.7million); Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) through the High V.LO-City and HyTransit projects (£8.3million); Aberdeen City Council (£2million); First (£1million); Stagecoach (£1million); Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution £750,000; and Scotland Gas Network £200,000. BOC has invested £1million in the hydrogen production and refuelling station.The facility is among the first high profile urban hydrogen networks in the world. The project will deliver a hydrogen infrastructure in Aberdeen in 2015, including the hydrogen facility at the bus facility, as well as a purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell vehicle maintenance facility.
The refuelling station, at Aberdeen City Council’s Kittybrewster depot, is owned and operated by BOC, a member of The Linde Group, and has been delivered as part of the Aberdeen City Council-led project which is testing the economic and environmental benefits of hydrogen transport technologies and aims to drive the development of hydrogen technologies.
City Council Leader, Councillor Laing, said, “As a leading world energy city determined to anchor the renewables industry in the North-east of Scotland, the success of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project is a real coup.”
“We’ve got a lot to be proud of: we not only have Europe’s largest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses running on the streets of Aberdeen, but we also have the UK’s first and largest hydrogen production and bus refuelling station, with plans in place for further hydrogen stations which will be capable of fuelling other vehicles, including cars.”
“We have a very clear Hydrogen Strategy for the future and are on the cusp of realising our aspiration of becoming a world-leading city for low carbon technology, while maintaining our position as a leading world energy city.”
“The Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project is a very important demonstration project which will help to inform the growth and development of hydrogen technologies and the hydrogen industry, as well as a strong hydrogen economy in Aberdeen. The benefits of this project will be felt locally, nationally and internationally.”
The CTC Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries.
