Aberdeen City Council (Aberdeen) has selected bp as its preferred bidder for a commercial partnership to develop a hydrogen hub in the city, UK.

As the preferred bidder, bp will work with Aberdeen to finalize the contractual process, leading to the creation of the joint venture. After this, work will start on the required front-end engineering design (FEED), with the aim of making a final investment decision on the selected development concept in 2023.

The program is divided into three phases, and one of the key parts is the creation of the first scalable green hydrogen production facility in Scotland. Phase 1 involves the delivery of a green hydrogen facility and targets first operations from 2024. The options to generate hydrogen for buses and vans could include using power from a new photovoltaic solar farm, green power purchase agreements and a private wire grid connection. The other two phases might involve the increased production through further investment to supply larger volumes of hydrogen for rail, freight and marine, as well as supply of hydrogen for heat and export.