Speyside Hydrogen is a multi-phase project that will produce green hydrogen to fuel operations across distilleries and other businesses in Moray enabling them to decarbonise in line with their own ambitions and sector targets. When used, hydrogen produces mainly water vapour, making it a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.

The Speyside Hydrogen project, at our proposed location just South of Marypark, Ballindalloch, is in the early stages of design. Our ambition is to honour the scale, scope and heritage of the existing environment across Speyside and Moray, and above all else to be responsible neighbours. More detailed and updated visualisations of the site will be available at the second consultation event in November.

A range of production methods exist to produce hydrogen, and colours are used to help explain the differences between each of these methods i.e. blue, grey, green and pink.

Green hydrogen is produced though the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. This process results in water being split into its two component parts, hydrogen and oxygen. There are no carbon emissions created from this process when renewable energy is used.

Green hydrogen can help address hard to decarbonise sectors of the economy including industrial power, heat, and transport.

The fuel is flexible, can be stored, and the process of electrolysis creates no emissions when renewable energy is used.

The site at Ballindalloch, near Marypark is ideally placed to host a green hydrogen facility, with ready access to renewable electricity, a customer base that includes leading distillers and a supportive supply chain, as well as a heritage of innovation and community engagement. The project is expected to lead the way to a phased development that will ultimately benefit Moray and north-east Scotland.

Hydrogen has been used as a source of fuel since the 1920s, and in fact hydrogen was a major component in 'town gas', gas created from coal and used widely throughout Britain before the discovery of North Sea gas in the 1960s.

Its properties are well known and so are the primary safety concerns.

There are well-established regulations, codes of practice and guidance for the design, construction and operation of hydrogen production facilities which must be adhered to for safe operation.

Speyside Hydrogen will comply with these requirements. The development team is working to detailed design and engineering standards and the initial proposals will be shared via public consultation events in August and October 2024.

The proposed development will bring jobs to the area through direct employment in roles associated with the development of the project and ongoing production of hydrogen at the facility, and indirectly by safeguarding existing businesses, for example, distilleries, through aiding the transition to net zero carbon emissions.

Our goal is to create a positive and lasting impact, and we are dedicated to finding the best way to achieve this. We are open to feedback and suggestions, and we encourage community members to share their thoughts on how we can best support the local area. We will provide updates as we move forward with our plans.